L'wisioo 


TX 1 954 
, J 45 


So  tioo 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/christianityinteOOjeff_O 


BOOKS  BY  DR.  JEFFERSON 


Quiet  Talks  with  Earnest  People. 

Quiet  Hints  to  Growing  Preachers. 

The  Minister  as  Prophet. 

The  Minister  as  Shepherd, 

Doctrine  and  Deed. 

Things  Fundamental. 

The  Character  of  Jesus. 

The  New  Crusade. 

My  Father’s  Business. 

Building  of  the  Church. 

Why  We  may  Believe  in  Life  After  Death. 
Talks  on  High  Themes. 

Christmas  Builders. 

The  Cause  of  the  War. 


CHRISTIANITY  A 
INTERNATIONAL 
PEACE 


SIX  LECTURES  AT  GRINNELL  COLLEGE, 
GRINNELL,  IOWA,  IN  FEBRUARY,  1915, 
ON  THE  GEORGE  A.  GATES  MEMORIAL 
FOUNDATION 


BY  v 


CHARLES  EDWARD  JEFFERSON 

Pastor  of  the  Broadway  Tabernacle 
in  New  York  City 


NEW  YORK 

THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1915, 

By  THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  COMPANY 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I 

THE  GREATEST  PROBLEM  OF  THE 

TWENTIETH  CENTURY  ...  9 

II 

THE  BIBLE  AND  WAR  ....  50 

III 

THE  CHURCH  AND  PEACE  ...  99 

IV 

CHRISTIANITY  AND  MILITARISM  . . 145 

V 

SOME  FALLACIES  OF  MILITARISM  . . 194 

VI 

WHAT,  THEN,  SHALL  WE  DO?  . . . 242 


CHRISTIANITY  AND 
INTERNATIONAL  PEACE 

i 

The  Greatest  Problem  of  the  Twentieth 
Century 

We  are  living  in  the  age  of  the  social  ques- 
tion. Humanity  has  at  last  worked  its  way 
into  the  public  eye.  The  relations  of  man  to 
man,  of  groups  of  men  to  groups  of  men,  of 
corporations  or  bodies  of  men  to  other  corpora- 
tions, these  are  to-day  the  subject  of  the 
world’s  chief  concern.  How  to  live  together 
is  the  sovereign  problem  upon  which  the  most 
thoughtful  minds  are  focused.  How  to  get 
rid  of  the  social  evils  by  which  humanity  is 
scourged  and  hampered,  is  a problem  from 
which  the  most  sensitive  hearts  are  unable  to 
get  away. 


9 


10  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

And  so  we  are  living  in  an  age  of  social 
remedies,  solutions,  panaceas.  Innumerable 
reformers  have  gone  abroad,  each  one  enthusi- 
astic over  some  particular  method  to  bring 
about  the  social  reconstruction  for  which  the 
world  is  to-day  in  travail.  Numberless  books 
exploit  schemes  of  social  welfare.  Many 
prophets  are  preaching  almost  furiously  a gos- 
pel of  social  redemption.  Men  search  the 
New  Testament  for  a social  gospel,  and  Jesus 
is  discovered  to  be  a social  reformer.  His  idea 
of  the  kingdom  has  been  found  to  be  the  cen- 
tral idea  of  all  his  teaching,  and  this  idea  is 
working  like  a mighty  ferment  in  the  heart  of 
our  generation.  The  whole  Church  of  Christ 
is  being  carried  onward  as  on  a tidal  wave  to- 
ward issues  larger  than  any  it  has  ever  faced 
since  the  Reformation.  With  the  social  idea 
before  them,  men  are  taking  a quickened  in- 
terest in  all  the  kingdoms  of  life;  the  family, 
society,  business,  recreation,  education,  art,  lit- 
erature, politics.  We  are  coming  to  see  that 
these  are  the  kingdoms  which  are  to  become 
the  kingdoms  of  Christ.  They  can  become 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  11 

his  kingdoms  only  through  our  cooperation. 
They  are  areas  of  life  which  we  by  his  help 
must  subdue.  At  present  they  are  largely  ob- 
streperous, rebellious,  alienated,  saying  — 
“ We  will  not  have  this  man  to  rule  over  us,” 
but  in  the  new  light  which  has  broken  upon 
us,  we  see  that  all  these  kingdoms  of  life  be- 
long potentially  to  God,  and  that  it  is  the  aim 
of  the  Christian  religion  to  bring  them  into 
glad  subjection  to  the  King.  The  city  of  God 
is  no  longer  a distant  goal  in  the  clouds  to  be 
reached  after  this  life  is  over,  it  is  rather  a 
city  which  is  to  be  brought  down  out  of 
heaven,  and  given  a place  on  the  earth  by 
the  prayers  and  labors  of  men.  The  old 
prayer,  “ Thy  Kingdom  come,  thy  will  be  done 
on  earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven,”  is  being 
prayed  with  a new  meaning  by  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  Christians,  and  we  are  no  longer 
singing  with  the  gusto  of  our  fathers  such 
hymns  as  those  of  Isaac  Watts : “ When  I 

can  read  my  title  clear  to  mansions  in  the 
skies,”  but  we  rather  turn  to  hymns  like  this : 
“ The  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war,  a kingly 


12  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

crown  to  gain,”  and  our  hearts  beat  fast  at  the 
thrilling  question : “ Who  follows  in  his 
train  ? ” 

Good  men  and  women  are  more  and  more 
thinking  of  the  common  good.  They  are  in- 
terested in  social  welfare.  They  consecrate 
themselves  to  social  service.  The  problems 
which  evoke  the  liveliest  interest  to-day  are 
all  social : the  Domestic,  the  Industrial,  the 
Commercial,  the  Denominational,  the  Interna- 
tional — all  these  are  but  phases  of  the  huge 
social  question  to  which  thinking  men  are  now 
giving  their  minds.  It  has  come  to  our  age 
with  all  the  freshness  of  a new  revelation  that 
we  are  social  creatures,  that  no  man  either 
lives  or  dies  to  himself,  but  that  all  men  live 
only  in  society,  that  personality  develops  by 
its  relationships,  and  that  we  are  literally  mem- 
bers of  one  another.  The  problem  is  how  to 
live  together  in  good  will  and  mutual  helpful- 
ness, how  to  cooperate  harmoniously  for  the 
attainment  of  worthy  ends.  All  our  great 
problems  then,  may  fittingly  be  called  peace 
problems.  How  can  we  bring  husbands  and 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  13 

wives,  parents  and  children  to  live  peaceably 
together,  working  harmoniously  for  the  build- 
ing of  a beautiful  and  Christian  home  life? 
How  can  we  induce  labor  and  capital  to  live 
together  in  hearty  good  will,  each  side  giving 
to  the  other  that  which  is  due?  How  can  the 
Golden  Rule  be  carried  out  in  business  ? How 
can  the  principle  of  competition  be  so  tem- 
pered and  curbed  by  the  principle  of  brother- 
liness that  commercial  rivals  shall  not  strive 
to  crush  one  another,  converting  the  world 
of  business  into  a field  of  slaughter?  How 
can  we  bring  the  various  branches  of  the 
Christian  church  closer  together,  so  that  they 
shall  cooperate  with  increased  efficiency  in 
casting  out  demons,  and  performing  the  works 
of  God?  How  can  we  heal  society,  distracted 
and  torn  by  class  prejudices  and  hatreds? 
How  can  we  break  down  the  barriers  and  fill 
up  the  chasms,  and  bring  alienated  groups  of 
men  into  sweeter  and  more  wholesome  rela- 
tions? But  the  greatest  of  all  problems  re- 
mains to  be  mentioned : How  shall  we  get  the 
nations  of  the  earth  to  live  together  in  peace? 


14  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

How  shall  we  abolish  war?  How  shall  we 
train  the  nations  to  live  and  work  together  like 
members  of  a family?  How  shall  we  estab- 
lish not  simply  the  brotherhood  of  man,  but 
the  brotherhood  of  nations? 

In  comparison  with  this  problem  all  the 
other  problems  dwindle.  It  is  not  easy  to 
create  peace  in  a city  or  a commonwealth  or  a 
nation.  To  bring  diverse  classes  of  popula- 
tion into  friendly  relations,  even  though  they 
live  under  the  same  flag,  is  a task  which  is  im- 
mense. But  to  bring  the  fifty-seven  nations 
of  the  earth  into  a life  that  shall  be  domi- 
nated by  the  sentiment  of  good  will,  this  is 
indeed  a task  sufficient  to  tax  the  resources 
not  only  of  all  the  good  men  now  alive,  but 
almost,  one  would  think,  of  God  himself.  It 
is  so  great  that  some  stagger  back  from  it 
stunned  and  unnerved.  It  is  apparently  so 
impossible  of  solution  that  men  even  of  faith 
often  turn  away  from  it  with  despondent 
faces.  Our  civic  problems  are  vexing,  our 
industrial  problems  are  bewildering,  our  race 
problems  within  our  own  borders  are  appall- 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  15 

ing  enough  to  make  many  hearts  faint,  but  the 
international  problem  is  the  most  tangled,  most 
myriad-sided,  most  baffling,  most  overwhelm- 
ing of  all. 

For  that  reason  it  is  the  most  interesting, 
fascinating,  thrilling,  rewarding  of  all  the  sub- 
jects to  which  an  American  can  set  his  mind. 
What  is  the  greatest  theme  about  which  any 
man  in  our  time  can  speak?  International 
Peace.  What  is  the  most  needed  bit  of  work 
that  a man  in  our  day  can  perform?  Work 
for  the  creation  of  a Christian  spirit  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  What  is  the  most 
urgent  duty  before  the  Church  of  Christ  in 
the  United  States  at  the  present  hour?  A 
Christian  attitude  toward  war,  and  a whole- 
hearted insistence  that  the  principles  of  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  shall  be  the  principles  of  states- 
manship, and  that  nations  as  well  as  individ- 
uals shall  foundation  their  life  on  love.  Chris- 
tianity and  International  Peace  — that  is  my 
subject.  I can  conceive  of  none  greater,  none 
more  inspiring,  none  more  urgent. 

It  is  to  the  young  men  and  young  women  of 


16  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

America  that  our  most  puzzling  problems  must 
be  brought.  Youth  is  the  season  when  the 
pulse  beat  is  strong,  and  when  the  heart  is  not 
easily  made  afraid.  As  men  grow  older,  many 
of  them  lose  something  of  the  courage  which 
they  once  had,  and  become  less  hopeful  both 
for  themselves  and  for  mankind.  Young  men 
and  women  are  by  the  will  of  God  dreamers. 
Visions  come  to  them  of  the  heights  that  have 
never  yet  been  scaled,  and  voices  plead  with 
them  to  attempt  what  has  never  yet  been  done. 
That  is  why  Jesus  of  Nazareth  called  only 
young  men  to  be  his  disciples.  He  rolled  the 
world  upon  their  shoulders,  knowing  that  it 
was  none  too  heavy  for  them  to  bear.  The 
beloved  disciple  liked  to  write  to  young  men, 
giving  as  one  of  his  reasons  the  fact  that  they 
are  strong.  Yes,  youth  is  strong  in  faith,  in 
courage,  in  scorn  of  the  entangling  traditions 
and  precedents  by  which  humanity  is  held 
back.  It  is  not  afraid  to  attack  fortresses 
which  have  never  fallen,  to  venture  out  upon 
uncharted  seas,  to  dare  attempt  a beautiful 
and  original  achievement.  America  has  been 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  17 

often  praised  for  her  idealism.  We  have 
many  sins,  but  even  our  harshest  critics  have 
given  us  credit  for  an  idealism  which  is  re- 
freshing and  at  times  sublime.  Will  not  our 
idealism  rise  to  the  demands  of  the  present 
crisis?  To  what  section  of  American  youth 
has  the  world  a better  right  to  turn  than  to  the 
students  in  our  universities  and  colleges?  Is 
it  too  much  to  say  that  America  has  thus  far 
been  disappointed  on  the  whole  in  her  college 
graduates?  It  was  one  of  the  dreams  of  our 
fathers  that  education  would  save  us  from  the 
evils  by  which  the  old  world  had  been  afflicted. 
They  hated  ignorance  and  superstition,  and  at 
tremendous  sacrifices,  wherever  they  built  a 
church,  they  also  built  a school.  Even  in  the 
earliest  days,  in  the  midst  of  poverty,  they 
laid  the  foundations  of  colleges  in  which  their 
sons  might  be  trained  for  the  task  of  building 
a nation  which  should  do  God’s  will.  Through 
nearly  three  hundred  years,  our  country  has 
been  faithful  to  the  dreams  of  its  founders, 
and  nowhere  on  the  earth  has  money  been 
poured  out  with  such  lavish  generosity  for  ed- 


18  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

ucational  equipment  as  under  our  flag.  Our 
educational  institutions  have  been  our  pride 
and  glory.  But,  alas,  they  have  not  done 
what  was  so  confidently  expected.  College 
graduates,  in  appalling  numbers,  walk  in  the 
ways  of  the  ungodly,  and  stand  in  the  way 
of  sinners,  and  sit  in  the  seat  of  the  scorn- 
ful. This  last  occupation  is  exceedingly  com- 
mon. Four  years  in  college  convert  some  men 
into  confirmed  critics.  Unwilling  to  do  any- 
thing heroic  themselves,  they  sneer  at  those 
who  are  sacrificing  themselves  for  the  public 
good,  and  smile  superciliously  at  the  efforts 
of  men  the  latchet  of  whose  shoes  they  are  not 
worthy  to  unloose.  Some  of  the  most  danger- 
ous men  in  our  country  are  college  graduates. 
Their  intellectual  equipment  renders  them 
doubly  dangerous,  for  it  gives  them  added 
power  to  carry  out  their  schemes.  Selfishness 
in  possession  of  disciplined  powers  becomes 
sevenfold  more  a peril.  Not  a few  of  the 
men  who  have  done  most  within  the  last  fifty 
years  to  corrupt  legislation,  and  to  thwart  the 
will  of  the  people,  and  to  bring  law  into  dis- 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  19 

repute,  have  been  college  men.  One  is  con- 
stantly amazed  at  the  lack  of  moral  enthusi- 
asm and  spiritual  vision  of  multitudes  of  the 
men  who  come  out  of  our  institutions  of  learn- 
ing. How  many  colleges  in  the  country,  do 
you  think,  are  alive  to  the  tremendous  impor- 
tance of  the  problem  of  International  Peace? 
How  many  University  Presidents  have  given 
it  their  attention,  and  fitted  themselves  to  be- 
come leaders  in  the  thought  of  the  world  con- 
cerning it?  How  many  of  the  Professors  and 
Educational  leaders  of  Europe  have  been 
awake  on  this  subject  through  the  last  forty 
years?  One  would  suppose  that  university 
teachers,  men  who  are  versed  in  history  and 
all  branches  of  learning,  and  who  have  sat  at 
the  feet  of  the  sages  of  the  centuries,  would 
give  attention  to  the  sovereign  problems  of 
life,  and  not  allow  the  poor  world  to  go  on 
staggering  under  burdens  which  are  crushing, 
only  at  last  to  tumble  into  a ditch.  What 
avails  a knowledge  of  chemistry  or  biology  or 
astronomy  or  language  or  mathematics,  if  the 
mind  is  left  ignorant  of  the  great  laws  of  God 


20  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

by  which  humanity  is  governed,  and  if  the 
heart  is  left  dull  to  the  movement  of  God’s 
spirit  in  widening  and  elevating  the  thoughts 
of  men?  Shame  on  the  college  professor  who 
wraps  himself  up  in  his  little  specialty,  paying 
no  attention  to  the  world’s  problems.  And 
shame  on  the  college  student  who  does  not  look 
beyond  the  athletic  field  into  the  heart  of  the 
great  struggle  in  which  mankind  is  engaged. 
Our  large  cities  would  never  have  disgraced 
us  by  their  political  corruption  if  our  college 
men  in  greater  numbers  had  gone  into  politics 
and  done  their  full  duty  as  citizens.  The 
world  would  not  be,  to-day,  in  its  deplorable 
plight  if  educated  men  in  every  country  had 
trained  themselves  to  take  a deeper  interest  in 
public  affairs,  and  to  discipline  their  hearts 
to  Christian  ways  of  feeling  toward  foreign 
nations.  Every  college  man  owes  it  to  him- 
self and  to  his  country  to  build  up  in  himself 
an  international  mind,  and  to  cultivate  an  in- 
ternational heart.  What  is  the  supreme  end 
of  a college?  To  train  up  Christian  citizens 
of  the  world. 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  21 

The  discussion  of  this  international  prob- 
lem just  now  is  peculiarly  opportune.  It  is 
easier  than  it  has  ever  been  to  think  outside 
of  national  boundaries.  Ordinarily  we  are  in- 
terested solely  in  our  city,  once  or  twice  a 
year  we  get  interested  in  our  commonwealth, 
once  in  four  years  we  give  furious  thought 
for  a few  days  to  national  affairs.  Many  per- 
sons never  get  interested  in  foreign  nations  at 
all.  But  we  are  being  trained.  Recent  events 
have  broken  down  our  narrow  walls,  and  we 
have  been  compelled  to  think  of  other  nations 
than  our  own.  The  map  of  the  world  has  been 
unrolled  before  us.  We  have  been  obliged 
to  take  daily  lessons  in  geography.  We  have 
studied  not  only  the  whole  of  Europe,  but  the 
distant  East.  A thousand  facts  of  which  we 
had  been  ignorant,  have  been  impressed  upon 
our  mind.  A new  sort  of  book  has  found  its 
way  into  our  hands.  We  have  been  reading 
about  nations  which  heretofore  had  failed  to 
interest  us.  We  have  made  the  acquaintance 
of  distinguished  men  who  were  complete 
strangers  to  us  before  last  August.  Our  con- 


22  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

versation  has  widened.  Our  thoughts  have 
ranged  through  wider  spaces.  New  sets  of 
problems  have  been  forced  upon  us.  We  can- 
not keep  our  mind  from  crossing  the  sea.  We 
cannot  hold  our  hearts  from  hovering  over 
countries  for  which  we  formerly  cared  little. 
We  are  sensitive  now  to  every  sound  and  sight 
from  abroad.  Now  is  the  time  to  think 
soberly  about  our  nation  and  its  mission  to  the 
world,  our  churches  and  their  obligations  to 
mankind.  The  war  has  prepared  our  minds 
to  take  in  a colossal  theme.  It  has  predis- 
posed us  to  pursue  lines  of  thought  which  run 
to  the  end  of  the  world.  We  see  many  things 
more  clearly  than  we  saw  them  six  months 
ago.  We  see  them  now  in  the  glare  of  a great 
conflagration.  The  gleam  of  that  fire  will 
flash  through  the  paragraphs  of  these  lectures. 
While  you  are  listening  to  my  voice  you  will 
hear  the  groans  of  men,  and  the  sobs  of  women 
across  the  sea.  While  I speak  of  peace,  you 
will  feel  the  horror  of  the  European  tragedy. 
Our  hearts  are  awed  and  sensitized  by  the  fact 
that  we  stand  on  the  edge  of  an  abyss  of  tears 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  23 

and  blood.  The  agony  of  Europe  gives  in- 
tensity to  our  desire  to  find  out,  if  possible, 
how  a similar  calamity  may  be  avoided.  The 
impotency  of  the  European  church  in  the  hour 
of  need  admonishes  us  to  investigate  the  condi- 
tion of  American  Christianity,  and  makes  us 
more  eager,  I hope,  to  bring  our  churches 
more  fully  into  line  with  the  great  purposes 
of  God.  He  that  hath  ears  will  hear  what  the 
Spirit  is  saying  through  this  heart-breaking 
experience  of  Europe  to  the  churches  and  na- 
tions. 

We  are  living  in  a new  world.  Columbus 
in  the  fifteenth  century  discovered  a world 
which  historians  call  new,  but  that  world  was 
not  so  new  as  the  one  in  which  we  now  live. 
America  is  newer  now  than  it  was  in  1492. 
What  America  was  in  1492  it  had  been  for 
centuries.  The  whole  world  has  been  trans- 
formed within  the  last  hundred  years.  There 
is  a situation  now  which  never  existed  be- 
fore. There  is  a set  of  conditions  to-day  of 
which  men  of  preceding  generations  knew 
nothing.  Steam  and  electricity  are  the  twin 


24  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

magicians  which  have  made  all  things  new. 
They  have  annihilated  space.  They  have  tun- 
neled the  mountains,  and  narrowed  the  seas. 
The  ancient  walls  are  all  down.  There  are 
no  hermit  nations.  Around  the  planet  there 
is  nothing  but  open  doors.  The  continents 
have  been  linked  together,  first  by  electric 
wires,  and  now  by  the  more  subtle  wires  of 
the  ether.  We  can  see  around  the  world  and 
hear  around  it.  What  is  done  in  one  country 
is  seen  by  all,  what  is  whispered  in  one  capi- 
tal is  published  in  all  the  other  capitals.  This 
annihilation  of  space  has  brought  all  the  races 
for  the  first  time  in  history  face  to  face  with 
one  another.  The  nations  all  are  neighbors. 
A thousand  new  points  of  contact  have  been 
established,  every  point  of  contact  a possible 
source  of  friction.  Traders  go  everywhere. 
Every  nation  is  represented  in  every  market 
of  the  world.  The  oceans  are  so  many  high- 
ways along  which  the  nations  drive  their 
chariots  in  quest  of  pleasure  and  of  gold. 
The  world  is  now  a city,  the  various  nations 
are  so  many  city  wards.  The  streets  are 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century-.  25 

crowded  with  representatives  of  all  kindreds 
and  tribes  and  breeds.  Science  has  made  the 
earth  a neighborhood.  The  neighborhood  can 
never  be  destroyed.  Nations  can  never  go 
back  into  their  former  isolation.  Races  can 
never  again  hide  themselves  behind  moun- 
tains or  seas.  For  richer,  for  poorer,  for  bet- 
ter, for  worse,  all  the  nations  must  live  to- 
gether until  death  overtakes  the  world.  The 
neighborhood  is  here.  The  problem  is  how 
to  convert  it  into  a brotherhood.  That  is  the 
supreme  task  of  the  Christian  religion ; that  is 
the  cardinal  problem  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury* 

The  sudden  coming  together  of  a crowd  of 
nations  and  races  is  fraught  with  enormous 
peril.  You  cannot  bring  together  a few  hun- 
dred individuals  in  a mining  camp  without 
running  the  risk  of  disturbance,  and  lawless- 
ness and  bloodshed.  How  can  you  expect  to 
bring  huge  masses  of  men  known  as  nations 
close  together,  each  one  exercising  the  liberty 
to  do  what  is  right  in  its  own  eyes,  without 
creating  the  possibility  of  all  sorts  of  compli- 


26  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

cations  and  disorders?  The  variety  of  races 
is  itself  a source  of  danger.  The  different 
grades  of  culture  represented  in  these  races 
give  rise  to  misunderstandings  and  resent- 
ments. Their  varied  ambitions  and  ideals 
clash  and  create  irritation.  Each  nation  had 
become  set  in  its  own  ways  before  the  dividing 
walls  were  thrown  down,  and  to  get  accus- 
tomed to  strange  manners,  and  to  bear  with 
equanimity  curious  customs  is  not  easy.  Dif- 
ferences of  color  of  the  skin,  and  differences 
of  social  ideals,  and  differences  of  manners 
are  certain  to  give  offense,  but  these  differ- 
ences cannot  be  at  once  annihilated.  Races 
must  get  on  with  one  another  in  spite  of  their 
disagreeable  peculiarities  and  their  estranging 
traditions. 

Moreover,  the  past  is  not  blotted  out  be- 
cause it  lies  behind  us.  It  is  always  influ- 
encing the  present.  Nations  have  had  quar- 
rels in  former  days,  and  the  memories  of  those 
quarrels  are  vivid.  Injustices  have  been  done, 
and  they  are  not  forgotten.  Wrongs  have 
been  perpetrated,  and  they  are  all  remembered. 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  27 

Harsh  and  cutting  words  have  been  spoken, 
and  they  rankle  in  the  heart.  Animosities 
float  in  the  blood  often  down  to  the  third 
and  fourth  generation.  All  the  nations  pos- 
sess clashing  tendencies  and  habits,  and  not  a 
few  of  them  are  weighted  with  inherited  jeal- 
ousies and  hatreds.  There  is  abundant  ma- 
terial for  a great  fire,  for  each  nation  con- 
tributes a bundle  of  fagots. 

Modern  science  by  bringing  the  nations  to- 
gether has  released  forces  which  are  working 
mightily  for  mischief  as  well  as  for  good. 
Men  have  now  enlarged  opportunities  for  mak- 
ing money.  It  is  the  age  of  the  merchant. 
Commerce  has  taken  on  new  dignity  and  vol- 
ume. The  merchant  has  a place  in  all  the 
world’s  Parliaments,  in  several  countries  he 
can  become  the  head  of  the  state.  But  money 
making  is  a feverish  enterprise.  Trade  de- 
velops in  thousands  of  men  a covetousness 
which  knows  no  bounds.  Competition  for  the 
great  prizes  becomes  furious,  and  men  often 
resort  to  methods  which  are  unscrupulous  and 
to  tricks  which  are  base.  Along  with  the  in- 


28  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

herited  animosities,  we  must  reckon,  then, 
commercial  rivalries  as  perilous  factors  in  the 
life  of  our  modern  world.  The  promoter  is 
everywhere.  He  goes  from  country  to  coun- 
try seeking  concessions  and  privileges.  He 
gets  his  clutches  on  gold  mines  and  oil  wells 
and  railroads.  He  stakes  off  acres  under  for- 
eign flags  as  a part  of  his  desired  possessions. 
The  diplomats  later  on  meet  and  discuss  what 
they  call  spheres  of  influence.  Each  diplomat 
has  at  his  back  a nation  provided  with  soldiers 
and  guns.  Weak  nations  succumb  to  the 
strong.  Helpless  populations  are  exploited 
for  the  advantage  of  capitalists  far  away. 
Commerce  sometimes  leads  to  peace,  and  some- 
times it  leads  to  war.  Which  one  it  leads  to 
depends  on  the  character  of  the  men  who 
are  engaged  in  it.  When  commerce  is  carried 
on  by  ruffians  and  bullies,  then  commerce 
leads  ultimately  to  war.  There  are  many  ruf- 
fians and  bullies  in  the  commercial  world,  and 
they  have  caused  a deal  of  trouble.  Corpora- 
tions and  syndicates  of  rich  men  invest  their 
capital  in  foreign  countries  whose  population 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  29 

is  ignorant,  and  whose  government  is  weak, 
and,  by  and  by,  on  the  occurrence  of  some 
slight  misunderstanding  or  the  perpetration  of 
some  insult  or  injustice,  these  rich  men  cry 
out  for  the  use  of  the  army  and  navy,  demand- 
ing that  their  commercial  investments  shall 
be  safeguarded  by  the  blood  of  the  sons  of 
other  men.  Men  now  alive  have  seen  a whole 
continent  — Africa  — carved  up  and  distrib- 
uted among  the  prominent  nations  of  Europe. 
A part  of  Asia  has  been  subjected  to  the  same 
treatment.  It  has  been  counted  desirable  that 
a nation  should  have  colonies,  or  dependencies. 
National  pride  has  been  stimulated  by  lofty 
talk  of  “ possessions.”  Slavery  being  no 
longer  fashionable,  Christian  nations  now  con- 
tent themselves  with  owning  what  they  call 
“ inferior  ” populations,  giving  these  popula- 
tions what  in  the  judgment  of  the  owner  is 
convenient  and  profitable  for  them.  In  the 
international  world  the  strong  has  been  prey- 
ing on  the  weak,  and  diplomacy  has  been 
ranked  according  to  its  success  in  getting  the 
advantage  over  other  countries. 


30  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

The  diplomacy  of  the  modern  world  has 
been  largely  Pagan.  Diplomats  are  in  general 
clever  men  learned  in  the  art  of  getting  the 
better  of  their  rivals.  Conduct  that  is  counted 
contemptible  among  individuals  is  extolled  as 
brilliant  in  ambassadors  and  diplomats.  Ly- 
ing and  bullying  and  underhanded  dealing 
have  for  a long  time  been  common  in  the  world 
of  international  business.  The  treatment  of 
equal  nations  has  been  often  dishonorable,  the 
treatment  of  inferior  nations  has  sometimes 
been  atrocious.  Statesmen  have  made  a dis- 
tinction between  personal  morality  and  na- 
tional morality.  They  have  believed  that  na- 
tions have  a right  to  do  that  which  is  forbid- 
den to  individuals.  It  has  been  openly  taught 
that  principles  of  truth  and  honor  which  are 
binding  on  men  in  their  social  and  commercial 
dealings  are  not  binding1  on  governments.  In 
short,  the  international  world  has  never  been 
moralized.  It  is  a part  of  the  promised  land 
which  has  not  yet  been  subdued.  Barbaric 
standards  have  been  allowed  to  remain.  The 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  31 

ideas  of  the  cave  man  have  in  many  places 
survived  to  the  present  hour. 

It  is  because  of  the  survival  of  these  primi- 
tive ideas  that  we  have  also  the  survival  of 
one  of  the  practices  of  the  primeval  world  — 
war,  the  custom  of  settling  international  ques- 
tions by  killing  men.  War  belongs  to  a low 
stage  of  human  development.  It  has  no  right- 
ful place  in  the  civilization  of  to-day.  It  is 
an  anachronism,  a nuisance,  and  a scandal. 
There  are  individuals  who  yet  see  in  it  some- 
thing glorious,  but  they  are  men  of  stunted 
moral  development.  Men  who  are  truly  civ- 
ilized look  upon  it  with  horror  and  loathing. 
Owing,  however,  to  the  low  ideals  of  diplo- 
macy it  has  been  deemed  necessary  to  perpetu- 
ate what  is  known  as  the  policy  of  the  big 
stick.  The  policy  of  the  big  stick  is  the  policy 
of  the  brigand  and  rowdy.  The  big  stick  is 
an  enormous  army  and  a colossal  navy.  These 
are  counted  insignia  of  power.  The  Chris- 
tian nations  have  for  years  spent  a large 
amount  of  all  their  income  upon  these  imple- 


32  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

merits  of  blood.  That  educated  men,  and 
especially  educated  Christian  men,  have  not 
cried  out  day  and  night  against  this,  is  one  of 
the  darkest  tragedies  of  history. 

The  presence  of  these  huge  armaments  com- 
plicates the  situation,  and  renders  the  interna- 
tional problem  still  more  baffling.  For  arma- 
ments create  fear  and  fear  breeds  hate,  and 
hate  disturbs  the  normal  working  of  the  mind. 
All  European  life  has  for  a generation  been 
abnormal  because  of  the  enormous  mass  of 
steel  and  explosives  piled  up  in  readiness  for 
a coming  war.  The  human  heart  degenerates 
in  the  atmosphere  impregnated  by  the  poison 
of  the  barracks.  National  ideals  go  down 
whenever  militaristic  ideals  go  up.  There  has 
been  for  years  a steady  deterioration  in  the 
spiritual  life  of  all  the  so-called  great  powers, 
and  the  church  has  not  been  able  to  check  the 
fatal  process.  Militarism  hangs  like  a mill- 
stone around  the  neck  of  the  modern  world. 
It  is  an  octopus  in  whose  huge  tentacles  the 
nations  are  tenaciously  gripped.  How  to 
break  the  power  of  this  octopus  is  one  of  the 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  33 

questions  which  every  man  of  sense  and  grit 
must  face.  Until  the  world  can  check  the 
advance  of  the  militaristic  idea,  and  overthrow 
the  leaders  who  have  been  poisoned  and  de- 
moralized by  the  militaristic  ideal,  there  is 
little  chance  of  bringing  mankind  up  to  a level 
where,  clothed  and  in  its  right  mind,  it  can 
deal  rationally  with  the  great  tasks  which  mod- 
ern civilization  has  given  it  to  do. 

America  is  one  of  the  world  powers,  and 
nothing  is  foreign  to  the  United  States  which 
touches  the  higher  interests  of  humanity.  We 
cannot  even  if  we  would  lead  a life  of  na- 
tional isolation.  We  are  bound  up  in  a thou- 
sand ways  with  the  interests  of  the  world. 
Our  goods  go  to  every  market.  Every  coun- 
try contributes  to  our  necessities  and  comfort. 
Our  inventions  are  used  in  every  land.  Our 
ideas  are  reported  around  the  globe.  Our 
books  are  read  wherever  men  have  minds  to 
think.  It  is  not  necessary  for  us  to  make 
entangling  alliances,  they  make  themselves. 
Our  merchants  make  them,  our  travelers,  our 
missionaries,  our  scientists  and  scholars  and 


34  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

inventors.  We  are  already  knit  to  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth.  We  cannot  keep  ourselves 
at  home,  nor  can  we  keep  the  outside  world 
from  flowing  in  upon  us.  The  weight  of  our 
opinion  is  greater  than  we  know.  The  power 
of  our  example  is  more  potent  than  it  is  pos- 
sible for  us  to  measure.  We  know  that  within 
the  last  six  months  every  nation  engaged  in 
war  has  shown  a regard  for  our  opinion,  and 
that  several  of  them  have  put  forth  strenuous 
efforts  to  secure  our  favorable  judgment  on 
their  conduct.  Rulers  as  well  as  statesmen 
have  laid  their  case  before  the  people  of  the 
United  States  as  before  a tribunal  whose  de- 
cision is  of  weight  and  worth.  What  we  think 
and  do  is  of  moment  in  the  making  of  the 
world.  The  man  who  helps  to  mold  America 
is  helping  to  shape  the  destiny  of  all  mankind. 
If  we  can  make  our  great  republic  a steadfast 
and  implacable  hater  of  war  and  a faithful 
and  indefatigable  worker  for  peace,  we  shall 
have  hastened  the  coming  of  the  day  when  war 
shall  be  no  more.  We  have  never  begun  to  do 
yet  what  it  is  in  the  mind  of  God  we  shall  do. 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  35 

We  are  as  yet  only  a baby  nation.  No  one 
has  ever  suggested  that  we  are  decadent.  No 
one  imagines  that  we  have  passed  the  zenith 
of  our  glory.  Our  day  has  only  well  begun. 
Our  career  is  still  before  us.  We  have  not 
yet  put  forth  our  strength.  If  we  use  the 
powers  which  heaven  has  given  us  we  can 
mold  and  guide  the  world.  We  should,  there- 
fore, pay  heed  to  our  attitude,  conscious  of 
its  ultimate  possible  consequences.  We  do 
not  live  in  a corner,  and  we  cannot  do  our 
work  unobserved.  There  was  a time  when 
wide  oceans  separated  us  from  the  rest  of  the 
world,  but  now  they  are  bonds  which  unite  us. 
Instead  of  being  barriers,  they  are  broad  ave- 
nues upon  which  the  nations  come  flocking  to 
our  doors. 

This  world  peace  problem  belongs  to  the 
whole  American  people,  but  it  is  especially  a 
problem  for  the  Christian  church.  The 
church  is  free  here  in  a sense  in  which  it  is 
not  free  in  many  lands.  Our  church  is  not 
allied  with  the  state,  and  hence  it  is  not  handi- 
capped by  state  policy  or  traditions.  Our 


36  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

ministers  are  not  paid  by  the  government,  and 
hence  are  not  tempted  to  echo  the  opinion  of 
governmental  officials.  The  leaders  of  re- 
ligion here  can  strike  false  ideas  and  policies 
as  hard  as  they  will,  and  can  boldly  discuss 
problems  from  which  their  ministerial  breth- 
ren in  foreign  lands  must  studiously  hold 
aloof. 

There  is  no  question  now  before  the  world 
in  which  the  future  of  Christianity  is  so  vi- 
tally involved  as  this  question  of  international 
peace.  The  church  cannot  survive  if  militar- 
ism is  to  rule.  Christianity  must  languish  if 
Caesar  is  to  sit  on  the  throne.  A house  di- 
vided against  itself  cannot  stand.  A nation 
cannot  have  the  ideals  of  Christ  permanently 
in  its  homes,  if  it  enthrones  the  ideals  of 
Caesar  in  the  capitol.  We  cannot  successfully 
teach  the  boys  the  Golden  Rule  if  diplomats 
are  lauded  for  ignoring  it.  We  cannot  sing 
hymns  to  the  God  of  love,  if  the  money  of  the 
people  is  being  progressively  squandered  in 
the  manufacture  of  instruments  of  destruc- 
tion. We  cannot  get  men  to  look  adoringly 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  37 

upon  Jesus  dying  on  the  cross,  when  the  maga- 
zines and  papers  are  filled  with  pictures  of 
battleships,  and  battalions  of  soldiers  drilling 
for  the  work  of  human  slaughter.  Christian- 
ity and  militarism  are  implacable  and  deadly 
foes.  You  cannot  serve  them  both,  you  will 
come  at  last  to  hate  the  one  and  love  the  other, 
or  you  will  cling  to  the  one  and  despise  the 
other. 

National  policy,  then,  is  within  the  range  of 
legitimate  pulpit  instruction.  Those  who 
would  silence  the  preachers  of  the  gospel  on 
international  problems  are  silencing  the  wit- 
nesses of  Christ  on  the  very  themes  on  which 
their  testimony  is  most  needed.  It  was  on 
national  policy  that  the  Hebrew  prophets 
spoke  in  tones  of  thunder.  All  the  politicians 
of  Jerusalem  combined  could  not  close  the 
mouth  of  Isaiah  or  Jeremiah.  No  doubt  many 
a good  soul  in  those  ancient  times  wished  the 
prophets  would  content  themselves  with  pious 
meditations  on  the  goodness  of  Jehovah,  but 
the  prophets  knew  that  it  is  in  its  national 
policy  that  a nation’s  deepest  life  expresses 


38  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

itself,  and  that  it  is  what  a nation  says  by  its 
example  rather  than  by  what  individuals  say 
by  their  precepts  that  the  character  of  young 
men  is  molded  and  the  destiny  of  the  nation 
determined.  The  American  pulpit  is  recreant 
to  its  highest  trust  if  it  does  not  insist  in  sea- 
son and  out  of  season  upon  the  introduction 
of  Christian  principles  in  national  policies, 
and  if  it  does  not  demand  that  the  attitude  of 
our  nation  to  all  other  nations  shall  be  that 
of  a Christian  man  to  his  brothers.  To  allow 
militarists  to  go  on  week  after  week  educating 
by  their  articles  in  magazines  and  Sunday  pa- 
pers the  boys  and  young  men  of  the  nation 
while  the  pulpit  is  silent  on  the  greatest  of 
all  public  questions,  is  sheer  madness.  Min- 
isters of  Christ  cease  to  be  either  light  or  salt 
the  moment  they  confine  themselves  to  a few 
platitudinous  commonplaces  which  everybody 
believes  already,  and  against  which  no  one 
can  offer  a word  of  objection,  leaving  un- 
touched the  burning  moral  questions  in  which 
the  very  life  and  destiny  of  the  nation  are 
involved. 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  39 

But  it  is  not  only  the  preachers  who  must 
work,  the  laymen  also  must  gird  up  their  loins. 
This  is  a herculean  task,  and  every  man  is 
needed.  It  is  a task  which  concerns  more  than 
the  Christian  church.  We  must  have  the  as- 
sistance of  the  Jews,  and  of  the  agnostics,  and 
the  infidels,  and  of  the  great  unchurched 
masses.  Every  one  who  has  in  him  a desire 
to  better  humanity,  and  a willingness  to  assist 
in  casting  out  one  of  the  most  ancient  and 
furious  of  all  the  devils,  should  be  welcomed. 
Few  have  any  conception  of  the  magnitude 
and  difficulty  of  the  task.  Militarism  has  a 
grip  upon  Europe  so  tenacious  that  if  one  did 
not  believe  in  the  existence  of  a God  of  love, 
who  is  also  omnipotent,  one  might  well  despair 
of  victory.  There  are  groups  of  men  in  our 
own  country  so  obsessed  by  the  militarist  ideal 
and  so  astute  in  their  methods  of  working  that 
they  have  within  the  last  thirty  years  been 
able  in  spite  of  our  inherited  traditions  and 
temper  to  push  their  schemes  one  after  another 
through  the  national  congress  and  to  poison  by 
their  writings  and  speeches  the  minds  and 


40  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

hearts  of  millions.  It  is  not  enough  to  want 
peace,  or  to  admire  peace  or  to  pray  for  peace. 
We  must  work  for  peace.  We  must  make  it. 
Like  all  other  fine  things  it  is  the  result  of 
the  forthputting  of  effort.  It  can  come  only 
by  the  sweat  of  brain  and  the  agony  of  heart. 
The  world  could  have  had  peace  long  ago,  if 
only  men  had  been  willing  to  pay  the  price  for 
it.  Like  all  the  best  things  it  comes  by  way 
of  the  cross  — by  way  of  self-sacrificing  love. 
Jesus  pronounced  no  beatitude  on  the  peace 
wishers,  or  peace  dreamers,  or  peace  praisers, 
or  peace  hopers,  but  only  on  the  peace  makers, 
the  men  who  establish  the  foundations  of  jus- 
tice and  good  will  by  the  energetic  exercise  of 
all  the  powers  of  their  soul. 

It  is  common  in  certain  circles  to  believe 
that  everything  is  coming  out  right,  no  mat- 
ter what  we  do.  The  law  of  evolution  is  in 
full  force,  men  feel,  and  the  universe  is  so 
made  that  it  will  unfold  after  the  fashion  of 
a rose.  No  matter  what  we  think  or  say  or 
do,  to-morrow  is  certain  to  be  better  than  to- 
day. This  is  the  good  old  comfortable  doc- 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  41 

trine  of  Laissez  faire.  “ Let  things  alone. 
Keep  your  hands  off.  Permit  things  to  go 
how  they  will.”  It  is  a false  doctrine.  That 
is  not  the  way  to  bring  peace.  The  nations 
will  never  come  into  a brotherhood  if  broth- 
erly hearted  men  fold  their  arms  and  wait  for 
them  to  come.  Brotherly  hearted  men  must 
breathe  their  spirit  into  the  public  mind,  and 
into  public  policy.  Those  who  believe  in 
brotherhood  must  drive  from  the  seats  of 
power  men  of  a different  temper.  False 
ideals  must  be  torn  down.  Mistaken  notions 
must  be  rooted  out  of  the  mind.  Organiza- 
tions created  for  the  purpose  of  catering  to 
ambition  and  greed  and  vanity  must  be  re- 
sisted and  overthrown.  New  institutions 
must  be  created  through  which  the  world’s 
better  self  can  express  itself.  New  legisla- 
tion must  be  enacted  by  which  the  heart’s 
dreams  can  be  fulfilled.  The  world  must  be 
reshaped  by  hands  made  strong  because  they 
have  been  held  in  the  hands  that  were  pierced. 
Militarism  is  the  arch  devil  of  the  modern 
world.  Do  you  think  it  can  be  cast  out  by 


42  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

a few  hopes  and  wishes  — a few  prayers  and 
speeches?  I tell  you  Nay!  It  can  be  cast 
out  only  by  the  agony  and  sweat  of  tens  of 
thousands  of  men  who  have  determined  that 
by  God’s  grace  they  will  never  give  up  until 
the  victory  has  been  won. 

The  first  thing  is  to  take  hold  of  the  work. 
Get  a good  grip  upon  it  and  never  let  it  slip 
out  of  your  hands.  Let  the  scoffers  say  what 
they  will,  but  go  on  with  your  work  — Be  pa- 
tient. Victory  is  not  coming  to-day  nor  to- 
morrow nor  the  day  after.  It  may  not  come 
in  your  lifetime.  No  matter.  Work  till  the 
sun  goes  down  and  the  night  falls  in  which 
you  cannot  work  any  more,  and  some  one, 
noting  your  fidelity,  will  take  up  the  work 
where  you  dropped  it,  and  then  another,  and 
then  still  another,  and  some  day,  somehow, 
the  glorious  triumph  will  be  complete. 

Many  peace  workers  are  just  now  discour- 
aged. This  is  foolish.  There  are  convul- 
sions in  human  history  just  as  there  are  in 
nature,  but  geology  assures  us  that  the  con- 
vulsions never  thwarted  the  onward  and  up- 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  43 

ward  movement  of  the  earth.  The  convul- 
sions in  human  history  may  shatter  empires 
and  paralyze  civilizations,  but  mankind  will 
not  be  destroyed.  Mankind  may  slip  back. 
It  has  slipped  back  at  times,  and  it  will  no 
doubt  slip  back  again.  There  is  such  a thing, 
the  evolutionists  tell  us,  as  arrested  develop- 
ment and  degeneration,  and  we  must  expect 
these  things  in  the  history  of  our  race.  But 
while  nations  may  degenerate,  and  whole  races 
may  drop  from  the  tree  of  life,  humanity  will 
move  onward,  for  the  Lord  God  Almighty  is 
with  those  who  fear  him.  Let  us  feast  our 
hearts  upon  the  light  which  by  the  eye  of 
faith  we  can  see  over  the  tops  of  the  coming 
years.  Let  us  not  ever  be  weary  in  well  doing, 
for  in  due  season  we  shall  certainly  reap  if 
we  do  not  faint. 

Have  you  ever  asked  of  yourself  soberly, 
What  is  the  mission  of  our  Republic?  What 
is  the  errand  on  which  it  has  been  sent? 
What  is  the  word  which  it  has  been  ordained 
to  speak  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  ? What 
is  the  particular  task  to  which  it  has  been  set 


44  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

apart?  What  is  the  function  which  in  the 
divine  intention  it  was  created  to  fulfill  ? 
Sometimes  we  have  been  told  that  America’s 
mission  is  the  establishment  of  freedom.  It 
is  liberty,  exalted  by  us,  which  is  going  to 
enlighten  the  world.  The  Republic  was 
founded  by  Washington  and  saved  by  Lincoln 
— so  men  say  — in  order  that  the  scepter  of 
tyranny  might  be  broken,  and  the  rights  of 
the  people  to  life  and  liberty  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness  might  be  enthroned.  But  liberty 
is  not  an  end.  Liberty  is  a means.  Liberty 
is  not  the  goal.  Liberty  is  a way  station  on 
the  road  which  leads  to  the  goal.  Liberty 
is  a condition  under  which  human  life  can 
be  developed.  The  final  word  in  the  vocabu- 
lary of  life  is  not  liberty,  but  love.  Love  is 
the  fulfilling  of  the  law.  Love  is  the  greatest 
thing  in  the  world.  The  kingdom  of  love  is 
the  goal.  To  establish  the  reign  of  love  is 
the  sublimest  of  all  achievements,  and  may  it 
not  be  that  this  is  the  very  work  to  which  our 
Republic  has  been  specially  called?  The  ideal 
which  Christianity  holds  before  us  is  the  king- 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  45 

dom  of  God  — the  kingdom  of  righteousness 
and  peace  and  joy.  Sometimes  the  kingdom 
is  represented  as  a city,  and  the  nations  of 
the  earth  are  pictured  carrying  their  wealth 
into  it.  The  kingdom  of  God  as  the  New 
Testament  conceives  it  is  not  a contracted 
kingdom,  but  one  which  is  as  wide  as  the 
world.  All  the  nations  are  to  be  incorporated 
in  it,  and  to  win  them  to  allegiance  to  its  heav- 
enly ideals  is  the  highest  of  all  privileges  and 
duties.  Is  this  your  ideal  of  American  great- 
ness? Is  this  the  destiny  we  are  to  carve? 
Is  this  the  purpose  of  our  national  existence? 
To  assist  the  burdened  and  weary  hearted  na- 
tions toward  the  shining  goal  — the  kingdom 
of  God  — the  kingdom  of  Righteousness  and 
Peace  and  Joy? 

It  is  as  an  American,  then,  that  I speak  to 
you,  Americans,  about  what  we  owe  to  our 
country.  We  certainly  owe  it  the  best  that 
is  in  us,  expended  in  a lifelong  endeavor  to 
make  our  country  what  it  ought  to  be,  what 
God  wants  it  to  be,  and  what  by  his  grace  and 
our  consent  it  will  be.  It  is  as  an  American 


46  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

Christian  that  I speak  to  you,  American  Chris- 
tians, about  what  we  owe  to  Jesus  Christ  our 
Savior.  We  certainly  owe  him  the  best  that 
is  in  us  expended  in  a lifelong  effort  to  build 
up  in  our  Republic  the  kingdom  of  love  in 
order  that  through  its  example,  the  kingdom 
of  love  may  be  finally  established  throughout 
the  world. 

It  was  just  twenty  years  ago  that,  after  a 
hundred  days  in  Europe,  I reached  the  con- 
clusion that  in  the  world  of  my  generation  the 
supreme  problem  was  that  of  international 
peace.  Once  convinced  that  the  peace  move- 
ment was  the  most  important  of  all  move- 
ments, I consecrated  to  it  all  my  powers  for 
the  remainder  of  my  life.  For  twenty  years 
I have  carried  the  burden  on  my  heart,  con- 
stantly asking  myself  what  further  thing  the 
Christian  church  can  do  in  order  to  quicken 
interest  in  this  subject  and  to  hasten  the  day 
when  a lasting  peace  can  be  established  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  By  study  and  travel 
and  reflection,  I have  endeavored  to  acquaint 
myself  with  the  dimensions  of  the  problem. 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  47 

In  every  country  of  Europe  I have  pondered 
it.  In  many  commonwealths  of  our  own 
country  I have  spoken  of  it.  And  now  I lay 
the  subject  before  you.  Some  of  you  have 
thought  about  it  already.  I trust  you  will 
think  about  it  more.  Others  of  you  have 
never  given  it  serious  attention.  Perhaps 
something  I shall  say  may  create  in  you  a deep- 
ened interest.  I want  to  hold  the  subject  be- 
fore you  until  it  burns  itself  into  your  heart 
and  conscience.  I desire  to  unfold  it,  and 
spread  it  out,  and  illustrate  it  until  you  shall 
see  clearly  how  vast  and  far  reaching  it  is. 
I desire  to  light  it  up,  if  I can,  so  that  what- 
ever confusion  may  be  lurking  in  your  minds 
may  be  so  far  as  possible  dissipated.  I can- 
not exhaust  the  theme  in  six  lectures.  I can 
call  your  attention  only  to  a few  aspects  of 
the  myriad-sided  problem.  It  is  an  economic 
question  — all  political  economists  ought  to  be 
interested  in  it.  It  is  a business  question  — 
all  financiers  and  merchants  ought  to  study  it. 
It  is  an  industrial  question.  All  wage  earners 
and  labor  leaders  ought  to  investigate  it.  It 


48  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

is  a political  question  — all  who  are  interested 
in  the  science  and  art  of  government  ought  to 
give  it  prolonged  attention.  It  is  a philan- 
thropic question  — all  lovers  of  mankind 
ought  to  be  drawn  to  it.  It  is  a moral  ques- 
tion— all  students  of  ethics  ought  to  think 
out  the  numerous  puzzling  questions  which 
spring  out  of  it.  But  it  is  fundamentally  a 
religious  question.  It  involves  our  conception 
of  God  and  our  relation  to  him,  and  our  rela- 
tion to  our  fellowmen,  and  all  who  are  striving 
to  keep  a conscience  void  of  offense  toward 
God  and  toward  man  should  invoke  the  il- 
lumination of  the  Holy  Spirit  that  their  minds 
may  be  guided  to  conclusions  which  will  be  in 
harmony  with  the  mind  of  their  Creator.  No 
matter  what  one’s  creed  or  calling  or  position, 
he  ought  to  study  the  question  with  earnest- 
ness and  patience,  for  it  is  a question  which 
touches  the  happiness  and  welfare  not  only  of 
millions  now  alive,  but  of  unnumbered  gen- 
erations yet  unborn.  To  no  one,  however,  so 
much  as  to  the  Christian,  does  the  question 
come  with  urgent  and  unescapable  power,  for 


Greatest  Problem  of  Twentieth  Century  49 

to  the  Christian,  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Prince  of 
Peace,  and  to  make  Christ  regnant  in  the  af- 
fairs of  men  is  the  deep  desire  of  every  truly 
Christian  heart.  How  to  enthrone  this  Prince 
in  the  vast  and  troubled  realm  of  international 
life  in  our  turbulent  and  tempestuous  century, 
is  not  only  the  most  important,  but  also  the 
most  difficult  of  all  the  problems  with  which 
men  and  women  of  brain  and  heart  and  con- 
science have  to  deal. 


II 


The  Bible  and  War 

What  has  the  Bible  to  say  about  war? 
The  question  is  forced  upon  us  by  what  is 
going  on  in  Europe.  Men  are  asking  the  ques- 
tion to-day  who  never  asked  it  before.  Many 
are  searching  the  Scriptures  for  light  in  the 
present  distress.  For  the  war  is  in  that  quar- 
ter of  the  world  where  the  influence  of  the 
Bible  has  been  longest  at  work.  All  the  na- 
tions in  the  great  war  except  two  have  for 
centuries  claimed  to  find  in  the  Bible  the  re- 
vealed character  and  will  of  God.  It  is  chiefly 
Christians  who  are  killing  one  another.  The 
armies  are  made  up  of  men  who  have  had  no 
sacred  book  except  the  Bible.  It  is  time  we 
were  asking  ourselves  what  is  the  attitude  of 
the  Bible  to  war? 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  for  many  a 
50 


The  Bible  and  War 


51 


century  the  war  makers  and  peace  mak- 
ers have  quoted  the  Bible  in.  their  sup- 
port. Seldom  has  a war  been  waged  in  which 
its  leaders  did  not  appeal  to  the  Bible. 
Generals  and  private  soldiers  alike  have  fed 
their  hearts  in  hours  of  darkness  and  peril 
out  of  the  same  big  book.  What  Crom- 
well did  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  the 
American  revolutionist  in  the  eighteenth, 
and  Paul  Kruger  in  the  nineteenth,  the  Em- 
peror of  Germany  is  doing  in  the  twentieth. 
Wars  are  carried  on  under  the  avowed  sanc- 
tion of  the  God  who  inspired  the  Bible.  On 
the  other  hand,  all  the  opponents  of  war  have 
made  a constant  appeal  to  the  same  book. 
Texts  have  been  quoted  a thousand  times  to 
prove  that  war  is  an  abomination  absolutely 
contrary  to  the  will  of  God.  Thousands  of 
peacemakers  are  heartened  in  their  labors  by 
what  is  said  in  the  Book  of  books.  They 
fortify  themselves  behind  words  of  prophets 
and  apostles.  They  quote  the  declarations  of 
the  Prince  of  Peace.  The  militarist  and  the 
pacifist  alike  turn  to  the  Scriptures  for  ap- 


52  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

proval  of  the  courses  which  they  pursue.  How 
can  we  account  for  this  singular  phenomenon  ? 

When  we  open  the  Old  Testament  and  be- 
gin to  glance  through  its  pages,  it  seems  to  be 
largely  a history  of  wars.  The  chosen  people 
are  always  fighting,  and  they  fight  under  the 
guidance  and  protection  of  their  God,  Jehovah. 
It  is  he  who  goes  before  them  into  battle,  who 
fights  with  them  in  all  their  struggles,  and 
who  gives  them  the  victory.  He  himself  is 
a man  of  war,  he  is  a God  of  battles.  And  the 
men  who  wrote  about  these  wars  are  appar- 
ently not  at  all  shocked  by  the  atrocities  and 
barbarities  which  they  record.  Massacres  and 
wars  of  extermination  are  not  condemned,  but 
on  the  other  hand  commended  as  being  parts 
of  the  great  plan  of  Jehovah.  The  historians 
of  the  early  history  of  Israel  have  no  words  of 
condemnation  for  even  the  savagery  of  war- 
fare, and  accept  it  as  a form  of  religious  ac- 
tivity. Even  the  prophets  sometimes  saw  the 
future  only  through  the  ideals  of  a world 
ruled  by  force.  One  of  them  saw  the  Messiah 
seated  on  a throne  and  ruling  with  a rod  of 


The  Bible  and  War 


53 


iron,  having  dominion  from  sea  to  sea.  Many 
of  the  poets  of  Israel  also  are  stirred  to  en- 
thusiasm by  the  martial  spirit.  They  sing 
with  gusto  of  martial  deeds.  They  put  crowns 
of  laurel  on  the  brows  of  military  leaders. 
They  ascribe  military  powers  to  Jehovah.  It 
is  by  his  favor  that  the  enemy  is  overthrown. 
One  of  them  sings: 

“ He  teacheth  my  hands  to  war 
So  that  my  arms  do  bend  a bow  of  brass. 

Thou  hast  girded  me  with  strength  unto  the  battle, 
Thou  hast  subdued  under  me  those  that  rose  up 
against  me.” 

Another  one  blesses  Jehovah  as  the  one 

“ Who  teacheth  my  hands  to  war 
And  my  fingers  to  fight.” 

The  Old  Testament  extols  David  above  all  the 
Hebrew  kings,  a man  after  God’s  own  heart, 
and  David  was  the  nation’s  favorite  military 
chieftain.  It  was  he  who  taught  the  children 
of  Israel  the  song  of  the  bow,  and  who  sang: 

“ By  thee  I run  upon  a troop, 

By  my  God  do  I leap  over  a wall.” 


54  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

Not  a few  then  of  the  religious  leaders  and 
teachers  of  Israel  apparently  exult  in  the  para- 
phernalia and  victories  of  war.  Military  lan- 
guage comes  readily  to  their  lips,  and  they  pic- 
ture history  in  the  imagery  of  battle. 

But  in  the  Old  Testament  there  are  other 
and  higher  voices,  voices  which  have  in  them 
the  piercing  tone  of  a great  lament,  which 
burn  with  the  passion  of  a fierce  condemnation, 
and  which  thrill  with  the  expectation  of  a 
reign  of  peace.  There  were  men  in  Israel  who 
did  not  delight  in  thinking  of  God  as  a man 
of  war  or  as  one  mighty  in  battle,  but  who 
loved  to  think  of  him  as  a great  benefactor 
and  giver  of  peace.  One  of  them  spoke  of  a 
day  when  Jehovah  was  going  to  break  the  bow 
and  the  sword  and  the  battle  out  of  the  land, 
and  make  his  people  lie  down  in  safety.  An- 
other saw  a huge  bonfire  in  which  the  boots 
of  war  and  the  garments  rolled  in  blood  were 
to  be  consumed.  Visions  of  a golden  age 
kept  flitting  before  the  eyes  of  the  greatest 
of  these  preachers,  and  in  that  golden  age  war 
had  ceased  to  be.  Its  devastations  and  trag- 


The  Bible  and  War 


55 


edies  were  ended.  The  instruments  of  slaugh- 
ter were  all  converted  into  the  implements  of 
^industry,  and  nations  no  longer  lifted  up  sword 
against  each  other,  neither  did  they  practice 
the  art  of  warfare  any  more.  The  greatest  of 
all  the  prophets  saw  that  the  golden  age  would 
be  created  by  a mighty  personality,  a myriad 
sided  man,  a hero  with  many  gifts,  a king 
with  many  crowns,  a lord  with  many  titles, 
and  the  proudest  of  his  titles  would  be  “ Prince 
of  Peace.”  If  the  Psalm  book  is  full  of  mili- 
tary feeling,  it  is  also  full  of  the  feeling  that 
stirs  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  hate  the  sights 
and  sounds  of  war.  Some  of  the  sweet  singers 
of  Israel  were  always  sneering  at  the  horse. 
In  Palestine  the  horse  was  used  only  in  war. 
He  became  the  symbol  of  military  prepared- 
ness and  power.  There  were  Israelites  who 
believed  that  a nation’s  strength  lies  in  its  mil- 
itary equipment,  there  were  others  -who  held 
.jj  the  opposite  opinion.  Listen  to  the  poet  who 
says : 

“ There  is  no  king  saved  by  the  multitude  of  a host. 

A horse  is  a vain  thing  for  safety.” 


56  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

There  were  men  then  as  there  are  men  now 
who  were  deeply  impressed  by  the  discipline 
and  physical  development  which  the  army 
gives,  and  there  were  others  who  looked  upon 
all  this  as  foolishness.  Listen  to  this  outbreak 
of  disgust: 

“ He  delighteth  not  in  the  strength  of  the  horse ; 

He  taketh  not  pleasure  in  the  legs  of  a man.” 

Whom  does  the  Lord,  then,  take  pleasure  in? 
The  poet  answers: 

“ The  Lord  taketh  pleasure  in  them  that  fear  him, 
in  those  that  hope  in  his  mercy.” 

Here  then  in  the  Old  Testament  we  find  con- 
tradictory voices.  The  men  who  wrote  the 
Bible  did  not  agree  in  their  estimate  of  war. 
Their  attitudes  to  it  were  not  the  same.  They 
differed  in  their  opinions  and  feelings  as 
men  do  now.  It  is  interesting  to  see  how 
vividly  and  variously  they  disagreed.  It  is 
because  the  Bible  is  such  a many  sided 
and  frank  and  unconventional  book  that  it  is 
capable  of  monstrous  abuse.  No  other  book 


The  Bible  and  War 


57 


in  the  world  has  been  so  misused  as  the  Bible. 
That  misuse  continues  to  the  present  hour. 
You  can  prove  anything  you  wish  by  snatch- 
ing isolated  sentences  from  the  Bible.  Men 
are  doing  now  what  they  did  in  the  days  of 
Shakespeare  — they  are  quoting  Scripture  to 
uphold  their  favorite  theories.  In  hot  scorn 
the  great  poet  wrote : 

“ What  damned  error  but  some  sober  brow  to  bless  it, 
And  approve  it  with  a text?  ” 

We  are  not  prepared  to  deal  fairly  with  the 
Bible  until  we  see  that  it  is  not  one  book,  but 
a library  of  sixty-six  books,  written  by  dif- 
ferent men,  with  different  temperaments  and 
different  viewpoints,  and  different  measures 
of  wisdom,  and  different  degrees  of  spiritual 
vision,  at  different  times,  amid  different  cir- 
cumstances, to  meet  different  needs,  the  times 
being  scattered  over  a period  of  at  least  fifteen 
hundred  years.  The  Bible  is  the  sifted  lit- 
erature of  a gifted  people,  a people  more  splen- 
didly endowed  religiously  than  any  other 
people  known  to  history.  But  like  all  other 


58  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

races  the  Jews  were  under  the  law  of  develop- 
ment. They  grew.  They  advanced  in  wis- 
dom. Their  thoughts  were  widened  with  the 
process  of  the  suns.  Their  heart  and  con- 
science were  refined  and  instructed  by  the  ex- 
periences of  the  centuries.  Their  great  men 
were  not  equal.  Great  personalities  are  of 
different  types.  It  takes  many  kinds  of  men  to 
mould  a nation  or  lead  a world.  What  a va- 
riety of  character  and  talent  and  virtue  you 
find  in  the  company  of  heroes  and  heroines 
who  pass  before  us  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of 
the  letter  to  the  Hebrews.  The  Old  Testa- 
ment is  the  record  of  the  development  of  a 
wonderful  people  which  reached  conceptions 
of  God  and  man  and  duty  and  destiny  which 
have  had  an  immeasurable  influence  upon  the 
character  and  career  of  a large  part  of  the 
human  race.  When  you  therefore  ask: 

J What  does  the  Bible  say  about  war?  you  are 
asking  a question  more  difficult  to  answer  than 
you  think.  It  does  not  say  any  one  thing,  it 
says  many  things,  and  different  things,  and 
you  must  discriminate  among  these  various 


The  Bible  and  War 


59 


things  and  decide  which  one  of  them  is  the 
highest,  and  which  you  can  accept  as  God’s 
voice  to  you.  There  are  low  voices  and  high 
voices  in  the  Scriptures,  for  men  live  always 
at  different  levels,  and  we  are  to  listen  ever 
to  the  highest.  Now  the  highest  voice  in  the 
Bible  is  not  in  the  Old  Testament  at  all.  The 
Old  Testament  was  the  Bible  of  the  Jewish 
church,  the  New  Testament  is  the  Bible  of 
Christians.  We  retain  the  Jewish  Bible  be- 
cause it  has  in  it  much  that  is  valuable  and 
which  humanity  cannot  afford  to  ignore  or 
disparage.  The  Christian  church  is  richer  be- 
cause the  Old  Testament  is  bound  up  together 
with  the  New.  But  in  this  union  there  is  a 
danger  against  which  we  must  always  be  on 
our  guard.  The  two  Testaments  are  not  on 
the  same  level.  They  are  not  equal  authori- 
ties for  our  life.  We  are  Christians,  and 
when  we  lift  up  our  eyes  in  search  of  one 
who  shall  speak  with  authority,  we  see  no 
I man  but  Jesus  only.  We  cannot  go  to  Moses 
or  to  David,  to  Joshua  or  to  Solomon  for  the 
final  word  to  guide  us  through  our  difficulties. 


60  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

There  is  no  one  to  whom  we  can  go  but  Jesus, 
for  he  alone  has  the  words  of  eternal  life. 
What  Hebrew  law-makers  and  priests  thought 
and  said  of  war  centuries  ago  has  no  more 
significance  for  us  than  what  they  said  about 
slavery  and  polygamy,  and  a hundred  other 
matters.  They  cannot  lay  down  rules  for  us. 
They  cannot  be  our  teachers  in  the  tangled 
problems  of  our  modern  world.  The  time  will 
never  come  when  men  will  not  get  suggestion, 
stimulus,  and  inspiration  from  the  Hebrew 
scriptures,  but  as  soon  as  the  Old  Testament 
is  used  as  an  authoritative  statute  book  for  us, 
it  becomes  a millstone  around  the  neck  of  the 
Christian  church,  and  holds  it  back  from  doing 
the  work  of  Christ.  We  cannot  wisely  listen 
to  any  man  but  Jesus.  He  is  the  great  teacher. 
He  is  the  way,  the  truth,  the  life.  He  warns 
us  not  to  listen  to  the  men  of  the  early  times. 
I “ It  was  said  by  them  of  old  time,  thou  shalt 
do  thus  and  thus,  but  I say  unto  you,  thou 
shalt  do  just  the  opposite.”  The  people  were 
astonished  at  this  teaching,  remarking  that  he 
taught  as  one  possessing  authority  and  not  as 


The  Bible  and  War 


61 


the  Scribes.  The  Scribes  were  adepts  in  quo- 
tation, experts  in  collecting  precedents,  stick- 
lers for  tradition,  pedants  who  had  put  out 
their  eyes  by  studying  manuscripts  handed 
down  from  ages  whose  ethical  ideals  had  been 
outgrown. 

The  misuse  of  the  Old  Testament  is  respon- 
sible for  the  perpetuation  of  more  than  one 
abomination.  It  has  furnished  proof  texts  for 
Mormonism,  and  it  bolstered  up  the  cause  of 
the  slaveholder,  and  it  has  often  fed  the  flames 
of  war.  When  used  by  ignorance,  or  by  su- 
perstition, or  by  fanaticism,  it  is  one  of  the 
most  dangerous  books  in  all  the  world. 

Let  us  then  open  our  New  Testament,  and 
find  out  if  we  can  what  is  the  attitude  of  our 
Christian  Bible  to  war.  Here  we  meet  with 
a chilling  disappointment.  To  our  amaze- 
ment the  New  Testament  has  nothing  to  say 
about  war.  It  does  not  commend  it,  or  con- 
demn it.  It  is  silent  on  the  whole  subject. 
It  passes  it  by  as  though  it  were  a theme  of 
no  interest.  Not  one  of  the  New  Testament 
writers  cares  to  discuss  it.  Not  one  of  the 


62  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

apostles  ever  expressed  an  opinion  concerning 
it.  Even  St.  Paul,  always  versatile  and  alert 
and  courageous,  leaves  this  topic  alone.  But 
surely  the  Master  will  not  allow  us  to  go  unin- 
formed in  a matter  so  momentous.  He  will 
tell  us  fully  what  lies  in  his  own  heart.  Alas, 
he  does  not.  Strange  to  say,  the  apostles 
never  attempted  to  draw  out  his  mind  on  this 
^ subject.  They  asked  him  many  questions,  but 
never,  so  far  as  we  know,  a question  about 
war.  Has  physical  force  a legitimate  place  in 
the  business  of  society  and  nations  ? Is  physi- 
cal resistance  sometimes  a duty?  Is  physical 
coercion  of  human  beings  ever  a necessity? 
These  are  questions  which  men  have  been  ask- 
ing for  centuries,  and  to  none  of  them  did 
Jesus  give  an  answer.  He  insisted  on  the  su- 
premacy of  the  principle  of  love,  but  he  never 
VJ  told  the  world  whether  in  his  judgment  the 
use  of  physical  force  is  at  all  times  inconsistent 
with  the  love  principle.  Is  it  possible  to  love 
men  and  at  the  same  time  coerce  them  by 
physical  means  into  courses  which  they  would 
not  if  left  to  themselves  take?  There  is  no 


The  Bible  and  War 


63 


question  more  important  and  more  puzzling 
in  our  modern  world  than  — What  is  the 
Christian  attitude  toward  war?  The  Chris- 
tian attitude  is  of  course  the  Christ  attitude, 
but  what  is  the  Christ  attitude?  What  atti- 
tude did  Jesus  of  Nazareth  take  to  the  wars, 
for  instance,  of  the  Maccabees?  What  did 
he  think  of  the  argument  which  justifies  wars 
of  defense?  So  far  as  the  records  go,  he 
Jiever  disparaged  military  service.  He  did 
not  suggest  to  the  centurion  that  he  was  in  a 
vile  business,  and  must  at  once  abandon  it. 
v In  the  gospels,  the  military  officials  are  always 
^ spoken  of  with  high  respect,  and  sometimes 
^ with  commendation.  Jesus  did  not  on  any  oc- 
casion forbid  nations  waging  war.  No  con- 
demnation of  war  in  specific  terms  can  be 
found  in  his  teaching.  Whether  the  use  of 
physical  force  in  the  maintenance  or  further- 
ance of  moral  ends  is  ever  according  to  the 
will  of  God,  and  whether  the  use  of  physical 
compulsion  is  ever  indispensable  to  the  suc- 
cessful carrying  out  of  the  purposes  of  the 
Eternal  are  large  questions  which  he  leaves 


64  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

untouched.  It  is  one  of  the  bitterest  of  all 
the  many  disappointments  which  we  meet  with 
at  the  hands  of  the  New  Testament,  that  it 
maintains  an  unbroken  silence  on  the  ethics  of 
war.  When  we  lift  up  our  eyes  to  the  great 
Teacher  and  say:  “Speak,  Lord,  for  this 
problem  troubles  me,  and  thy  servant  waits 
for  the  decisive  word,”  our  appeal  brings  back 
no  response,  the  lips  of  the  Master  are  dumb. 

What  shall  we  say  then  ? Shall  we  say  that 
this  is  not  a question  for  Christians  to  deal 
with  ? Shall  we  conclude  that  Christianity 
cares  for  none  of  these  things?  Shall  we  set- 
tle down  in  the  conviction  that  to  follow  Jesus 
is  to  follow  him  in  his  silence  as  well  as  in  his 
speech,  and  that  with  national  questions  we 
as  Christians  have  nothing  to  do?  If  this  is 
sound  reasoning,  then  we  must  have  nothing 
to  say  on  questions  of  education,  or  business, 
or  recreation,  or  politics,  or  art,  or  literature, 
or  any  other  of  the  kingdoms  in  which  the  men 
of  our  day  live,  for  about  none  of  these  did 
Jesus  have  a word  to  say.  There  is  no  evi- 
dence that  any  of  them  ever  entered  his  mind. 


The  Bible  and  War 


65 


If  we  are  to  ignore  everything  about  which 
Jesus  kept  silent,  we  shall  pass  by  a large  part 
of  all  which  the  modern  world  counts  impor- 
tant. We  shall  shake  off  our  heaviest  re- 
sponsibilities, and  shamefully  shirk  the  most 
difficult  and  important  of  our  duties.  War  is 
a large  fact  in  our  modern  world,  and  it  is  our 
imperative  duty  to  work  out  clear  conceptions 
of  it,  and  to  take  a Christian  attitude  to- 
ward it. 

In  helping  us  do  this,  we  have  two  faithful 
and  ever  present  guides:  first,  the  recorded 
words  of  Jesus;  and  second,  the  Holy  Spirit, 
who,  being  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  continues  the 
work  of  Jesus,  and  guides  his  servants  into  all 
the  truth. 

While  there  are  no  words  of  Jesus  specific- 
ally condemning  war  or  dealing  with  the  ques- 
tion of  the  legitimacy  of  the  use  of  force, 
his  words  breathe  the  spirit  of  gentleness  and 
persuasion.  In  his  presence  we  breathe  an 
atmosphere  totally  different  from  that  of  the 
camp  of  Caesar.  There  is  nothing  to  suggest 
the  barracks  or  the  battlefield.  He  carries  us 


66  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

at  once  into  a different  world,  and  sets  us  in 
the  midst  of  a different  set  of  forces.  There 
is  not  a hint  of  compulsion  or  a glorification 
of  physical  power.  For  instance,  “ Blessed 
are  the  meek,  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth.” 
It  must  have  seemed  a wild  and  visionary 
declaration,  for  the  arrogant  and  imperious 
had  up  to  that  time  held  in  their  grip  the  king- 
doms of  the  world.  “ Blessed  are  the  peace- 
makers, for  they  shall  be  called  the  sons  of 
God.”  That  smote  as  with  a sword  the  uni- 
versal sentiment  of  the  ages.  From  time  im- 
memorial the  war  makers  had  been  called  the 
sons  of  deity.  While  alive,  they  had  been 
idolized,  and  after  death  their  marble  figures 
on  marble  pedestals  had  held  the  veneration 
of  succeeding  generations.  Blessed  are  the 
war  makers,  the  battle  chieftains,  the  con- 
querors, the  pillagers  and  destroyers ! For 
them  and  them  alone  had  triumphal  arches 
been  erected,  and  their  names  alone  bore  a 
luster  which  the  lapse  of  time  did  not  dim. 
But  now  a Galilean  peasant  throws  an  idea 
into  the  human  mind : “ Blessed  are  the 


The  Bible  and  War 


67 


peacemakers,  for  they  shall  be  recognized  as 
the  sons  of  the  Highest.”  As  for  himself  he’ 
had  no  use  for  a sword.  When  one  of  his 
disciples  drew  a sword  in  his  defense,  he 
smote  him  with  a swift  rebuke.  He  refused 
to  defend  himself  against  the  Roman  soldiers 
who  came  to  arrest  him.  He  went  unre- 
sistingly to  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross. 
He  could  have  called  legions  of  angels  to  fight 
for  him.  He  refused. 

All  his  life  he  had  extolled  the  peace-mak- 
ing virtues,  mercy,  and  kindness,  and  gentle- 
ness, and  tenderness,  and  brotherliness,  and 
service,  and  constantly  he  had  condemned  the 
motives  which  lead  to  war,  envy  and  vanity 
and  ambition  and  greed  and  anger  and  sus- 
picion and  hatred.  All  the  demons  which 
combine  to  kindle  the  flames  of  war  were  re- 
buked by  him  and  placed  under  an  everlast- 
ing ban.  His  constant  themes  were  the  divine 
fatherhood  and  the  human  brotherhood,  and 
he  overarched  the  world  with  the  idea  that 
men  constitute  one  family,  living  in  the 
Father’s  house. 


68  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

Does  he  condemn  war?  Not  by  name,  but 
he  condemns  it.  He  condemns  war  just  as 
he  condemns  slavery,  and  all  other  institutions 
which  work  havoc  with  the  hearts  and  homes 
of  men.  It  is  his  custom  not  to  strike  at  the 
trunk  or  the  branches,  he  lays  the  axe  at  the 
root  of  the  tree.  If  he  had  picked  out  certain 
social  and  political  evils  and  anathematized 
these,  other  evils  would  have  sprung  up  after 
his  death,  no  less  mischievous  and  deadly, 
against  which  no  words  of  his  could  have  been 
quoted.  He  did  not  work  with  the  multi- 
tudinous manifestations  of  the  spirit  of  evil. 
He  descended  at  once  into  the  depths  of  the 
heart,  knowing  that  it  is  only  by  a new  heart 
that  all  the  world’s  tragedies  can  be  ended. 
His  great  words  are,  “ Repent  ” — ■“  change 
your  mind,”  “ you  must  be  born  again.” 
Whoever  preaches  with  power  the  doctrine 
of  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brother- 
hood of  man,  is  striking  heavy  blows  at  polyg- 
amy and  slavery  and  war,  and  every  other 
member  of  the  direful  brood  of  scourges  by 
which  mankind  has  been  plagued. 


The  Bible  and  War 


69 


But  while  the  spirit  of  Jesus  is  in  deadly 
conflict  with  the  spirit  of  war,  the  question 
still  remains  as  to  what  shall  be  our  attitude 
when  war  comes.  It  must  needs  be  that  of- 
fenses come,  as  Jesus  clearly  confessed,  and 
experience  proves  that  among  these  inevitable 
offenses,  war  thus  far  is  one.  Social  evils 
cannot  be  abolished  by  magic.  Institutional 
abominations  cannot  be  exorcised  by  the  wav- 
ing of  the  hand.  Slavery,  for  instance,  could 
not  be  abolished  in  the  first  century  or  the 
second  or  the  third.  It  was  a monstrous  in- 
stitution, but  Christians  were  not  numerous 
enough  to  overthrow  it.  They  had  to  accom- 
modate themselves  to  it,  and  get  on  with  it  as 
best  they  could.  What  cannot  just  now  be 
cured  must  be  endured  until  the  happy  hour 
arrives  when  cure  is  possible.  Christianity 
has  no  power  in  this  world  except  through  the 
hearts  which  are  surrendered  to  it,  and  its  in- 
fluence is  therefore  a progressive  one,  its 
power  at  any  moment  depending  on  the  num- 
ber of  its  adherents  and  the  completeness  of 
their  surrender  to  its  principles.  Not  enough 


70  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

hearts  have  as  yet  been  subdued  by  the  spirit 
of  Jesus  to  banish  war  from  our  planet,  and 
since  it  survives,  the  question  is,  what  shall 
we  think  of  it,  what  shall  we  say  about  it,  how 
shall  we  act?  Shall  we  denounce  all  wars, 
and  condemn  all  armies  which  take  part  in 
them?  Shall  we  say  that  to  fight  in  an  army 
is  unchristian,  and  that  every  Christian  who 
marches  to  the  battlefield  is  a traitor  to  Christ  ? 
Shall  we  say  that  to  shoot  men  on  the  battle- 
field is  murder  — a violation  of  the  sixth  com- 
mandment— and  that  to  justify  participation 
in  armed  conflict  is  a repudiation  of  that  which 
is  fundamental  in  the  Christian  religion? 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  we  are  living 
in  a growing  world.  The  human  race  is  in 
a process  of  evolution.  The  stages  of  this 
evolution  are  tedious  and  protracted,  and 
many  crudities  and  immaturities  must  be  borne 
with  until  the  principle  of  progress  has  carried 
us  beyond  them.  War  from  the  ideal  stand- 
point is  of  course  monstrous.  In  a completed 
world  war  could  not  be.  When  men  have 
reached  their  growth,  they  will  be  unable  to 


The  Bible  and  War 


71 


shoot  one  another  down  in  battle.  But  rob- 
bery is  also  monstrous,  and  so  is  defalcation, 
and  so  is  forgery,  and  so  is  slander,  and  so  is 
drunkenness,  and  so  are  all  the  crimes  which 
appear  in  the  docket  of  our  civil  courts.  But 
we  have  to  deal  with  them.  We  cannot  act 
as  though  they  did  not  exist.  We  must  curb 
them  as  much  as  we  can.  We  do  not  seem  to 
be  able  to  curb  them  without  the  use  of  force. 
Experience  proves  that  the  use  of  force  is 
both  salutary  and  indispensable.  It  will  never 
do  to  say,  these  things  are  too  unsavory  for 
us  to  think  about  or  handle,  please  let  us  think 
always  of  the  world  as  it  ought  to  be.  We 
must  use  our  reason  and  our  conscience,  and 
all  the  powers  of  a discriminating  judgment. 

We  must  find  out,  therefore,  if  there  be  a 
distinction  in  wars,  and  if  it  be  possible  for 
men  to  go  into  war  from  different  motives. 
For  instance,  one  man  might  go  to  war  for 
purposes  of  revenge,  whereas  another  might 
march  against  him  for  purposes  of  defend- 
ing that  which  is  too  precious  for  the  world 
to  lose.  A man  might  enlist  in  an  army  which 


72  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

was  fighting  for  plunder,  and  another  might 
become  a soldier  in  a great  campaign  for 
liberation.  Motive  then  is  a factor  in  the 
problem  which  cannot  be  neglected,  and  bel- 
ligerents are  to  be  classified  not  by  the  char- 
acter of  their  weapons,  but  by  the  motives 
which  drive  the  contending  armies  to  the  field 
of  blood. 

But  the  stern  question  still  confronts  us : 
Is  not  war  a sin  in  itself,  and  can  any  mo- 
tive, however  holy,  justify  one  in  participating 
in  the  commission  of  a sin? 

We  are  dependent  here  entirely  on  the 
spirit  of  God;  and  his  guidance,  because  of 
human  infirmities,  has  not  yet  led  all  con- 
scientious and  faithful  men  to  the  same  goal. 
There  have  been  those  in  every  Christian 
generation  who  have  said  that  to  resist  evil  by 
physical  force  is  always  unchristian.  This 
is  Tolstoi’s  position,  and  he  presented  it  with 
such  eloquence  and  persistency  and  courage 
that  he  made  a profound  impression  on  large 
classes  of  minds.  The  religion  of  Jesus  was 
to  Tolstoi  very  simple.  It  can  be  summed  up 


The  Bible  and  War 


73 


under  three  heads:  “Resist  not  evil,  judge 
not,  be  not  angry.”  So  certain  is  he  that  this 
is  the  law  of  life  that  he  is  willing  to  obey 
it  at  any  'cost.  He  sweeps  patriotism  away. 
He  abolishes  the  state.  He  will  not  allow 
civil  law  or  tribunals  or  prisons.  The  whole 
system  of  government,  and  love  of  country 
must  go,  for  otherwise  you  cannot  get  rid  of 
war.  There  are  many  persons  who  feel  that 
Tolstoi’s  interpretation  of  Christianity  is  the 
only  honest  one.  All  others  are  subterfuges 
and  makeshifts  and  tricky  evasions.  It  is 
often  said  that  nobody  to-day  pretends  to  be 
a Christian  in  the  New  Testament  sense,  and 
that  Christianity  as  taught  by  Christ  is  re- 
pudiated by  all  of  his  followers.  Why?  Be- 
cause Christ  says : “ Resist  not  him  that  is 
evil.”  We  all  do.  “ Whosoever  smiteth 
thee  on  thy  right  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other 
also.”  And  none  of  us  does  this.  “If  any 
man  would  go  to  law  with  thee  and  take  away 
thy  coat,  let  him  have  thy  cloak  also.”  No 
one  of  us  is  willing  to  obey.  “ Whosoever 
shall  compel  thee  to  go  one  mile,  go  with  him 


74  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

twain.”  [This  also  we  refuse  to  do.  “ Give 
to  him  that  asketh  thee,  and  from  him  that 
would  borrow  of  thee  turn  not  thou  away.” 
And  yet  we  turn  away  from  beggars  every 
day.  Therefore  we  are  not  Christians.  We 
do  not  practice  what  we  profess.  We  are 
hypocrites,  and  the  modern  church  is  a sham. 

It  is  a plausible  indictment,  but  it  ought 
not  to  influence  any  one  who  has  mastered 
the  elementary  principles  of  New  Testament 
interpretation.  Tolstoi  was  a man  of  genius, 
and  like  many  another  genius,  he  was  at  times 
near  to  madness.  True  to  the  habit  of  his 
race,  he  was  a literalist,  incapable  of  properly 
reading  the  metaphors  of  oriental  speech. 
Moreover,  he  was  in  everything  an  extremist, 
reacting  violently  against  his  unfortunate  en- 
vironment. No  one  of  us  can  understand  the 
conclusions  of  Tolstoi  until  we  acquaint  our- 
selves with  the  gigantic  evils  against  which 
he  uttered  his  passionate  protest.  Patriotism 
as  he  saw  it  was  hateful,  and  so  also  was  the 
state.  No  wonder  he  longed  for  deliverance 
from  both  of  them.  While  we  acknowledge 


Fhe  Bible  and  War 


75 


his  extraordinary  strength  of  personality  and 
his  amazing  literary  skill,  we  should  never 
allow  ourselves  to  be  misled  by  his  aberra- 
tions, or  confused  by  his  fanciful  New  Testa- 
ment interpretations.  In  seizing  upon  one 
sentence  and  making  that  a universal  rule  of 
life,  he  committed  the  same  sort  of  blunder 
committed  by  the  mediaeval  monks  who,  read- 
ing that  the  Master  told  a certain  rich  young 
man  to  sell  all  that  he  had  and  give  it  to  the 
poor,  leaped  to  the  conclusion  that  this  is  a 
law  for  everybody,  and  that  only  men  who 
possess  nothing  are  certain  of  admittance  to 
heaven.  Jesus  never  laid  down  rules.  He 
dealt  in  principles  alone.  His  fundamental 
principle  is  love.  Whatever  we  do,  we  are 
to  do  it  in  subjection  to  that  principle.  For 
instance,  we  are  not  to  give  to  a child  all 
the  candy  that  he  asks  for.  We  are  to  give 
only  as  love  allows  us  to  give.  We  must  give 
for  the  child’s  good.  We  cannot  give  to  the 
street  beggar  whose  breath  indicates  the  di- 
rection in  which  he  will  travel  when  the  next 
coin  is  put  into  his  hand.  Love  forbids 


76  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

us  to  give  to  every  one  who  asks,  and  we  are 
bound  to  be  true  to  the  law  of  love.  We  are 
not  to  resist  an  evil  man,  unless  the  cause  of 
love  demands  it.  Sometimes  non-resistance 
would  prove  a blessing  to  him,  at  other  times 
it  might  prove  a curse.  There  are  men  who 
are  saved  by  being  resisted.  No  man  can 
consistently  maintain  on  the  authority  of  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  the  doctrine  of  non-resist- 
ance, unless  he  is  prepared  to  advocate  and 
practice  the  habit  of  indiscriminate  and  uni- 
versal giving.  Any  man  in  a large  city  who 
gives  to  every  one  who  asks,  not  only  im- 
poverishes himself,  but  works  havoc  upon  the 
community.  Giving  is  certainly  a sin  when  it 
hurts  the  giver  and  the  person  given  to  and 
the  town.  It  is  monstrous  to  say  that  such 
giving  is  commanded  by  the  Son  of  God. 

When,  therefore,  men  tell  us  that  Chris- 
tianity teaches  the  doctrine  of  non-resistance, 
we  must  understand  more  fully  what  they 
mean.  The  man  who  says  that  the  use  of 
physical  force  is  never  justifiable  either  in 
defense  of  life,  or  of  a principle  more  valuable 


The  Bible  and  War 


77 


to  the  world  than  life,  is  not  aware  of  the 
reach  of  the  words  he  is  using.  For  instance, 
if  a mad  bull  should  rush  at  you  in  the  field, 
you  would  at  once  use  all  the  force  in  your 
possession  to  beat  him  back.  And  if  an  es- 
caped lunatic  should  meet  you  in  the  street, 
imagining  that  he  had  been  commanded  by 
God  to  kill  you,  you  would  use  force  upon 
him  as  freely  as  upon  a bull.  And  if,  not  a 
lunatic  but  a drunken  man,  having  put  an 
enemy  into  his  mouth  to  steal  away  his  brains, 
should  attack  you  with  a murderer’s  knife, 
would  you  doubt  your  right  to  beat  him  off 
with  any  weapon  you  could  lay  your  hands 
on?  And  now  if  a man  neither  insane  nor 
drunk,  but  simply  wicked,  a man  with  moral 
powers  imperfectly  developed,  should  at  mid- 
night attempt  to  force  his  way  into  your 
house,  you  would  not  count  yourself  a Pa- 
gan if  you  made  use  of  force  to  put  him  out. 
If  you  could  not  do  it  yourself,  you  would 
call  in  the  force  of  the  policeman.  There  is 
a spirit  in  man,  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Al- 
mighty gives  him  understanding.  We  seem 


78  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

to  know  instinctively  that  we  may  properly 
use  force  at  certain  times  and  under  certain 
circumstances  even  to  save  our  own  life. 
But  when  it  comes  to  saving  the  life  of  others, 
our  intuitions  are  still  stronger  and  quicker. 
What  strong  man  could  see  a bully  trampling 
a little  boy  without  rescuing  him  by  the  use 
of  physical  force,  if  he  could  not  rescue  him 
in  any  other  way?  Who  could  witness  a 
ruffian  threatening  a girl  or  woman  without 
coming  at  once  to  her  defense?  Who  could 
lie  still  and  allow  a burglar  to  murder  his  wife 
and  children,  believing  it  wrong  to  resist  evil? 
It  is  not  written  in  any  book  that  on  such  oc- 
casions we  may  use  force,  it  is  written  on  the 
tables  of  the  heart.  It  is  a law  sacred  and 
divine  which  antedates  the  decalogue,  and  it 
will  never  be  repealed. 

Now  if  there  are  times  when  the  individual 
is  justified  in  the  use  of  force,  it  is  likely 
that  there  will  come  times  when  the  use  of 
force  by  the  community  is  necessary.  Cities 
as  well  as  men  must  occasionally  use  compul- 
sion. It  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  life  of  any 


The  Bible  and  War 


79 


American  city  could  go  on  without  policemen 
and  courts,  jails  and  sheriffs.  Would  it  be  a 
good  thing  for  the  thieves  and  the  thugs  if 
all  the  policemen  should  lay  down  their  night- 
sticks? Would  it  be  just  to  the  decent  peo- 
ple of  a community  to  allow  the  desperadoes 
and  cut-throats  to  lord  it  over  them?  That 
a city  has  a right  to  use  force  is  among  all 
practical  men  considered  axiomatic.  Civiliza- 
tion, as  we  know  it,  would  fall  into  chaos  were 
all  the  instruments  and  machinery  of  force  re- 
moved. As  Paul  said : “ The  ruler  is  the 
minister  of  God  to  thee  for  good.  But  if 
thou  do  that  which  is  evil,  be  afraid;  for  he 
beareth  not  the  sword  in  vain:  for  he  is  the 
minister  of  God,  a revenger  to  execute  wrath 
upon  him  that  doeth  evil.” 

Now  if  a city  is  justified  in  the  employ- 
ment of  force,  who  can  deny  the  same  right 
to  a nation?  A nation  is  only  a larger  social 
group,  and  if  a small  group  has  the  right  to 
protect  itself  from  evildoers,  a large  group 
must  possess  this  right  also.  Lunatics, 
drunken  men,  robbers,  may  break  in,  and 


80  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

a nation  has  the  right  to  self  protection. 
But  its  right  runs  further.  The  right 
to  save  others  is  a loftier  right  than  that  of 
saving  one’s  self.  If  a strong  man  is  justi- 
fied in  going  to  the  defense  of  a man  who  is 
weak,  then  a strong  nation  may  give  a weak 
nation  assistance.  If  a little  nation  is 
trampled  upon  by  a big  neighbor  who  proves 
to  be  a bully  and  a brute,  then  another  nation 
is  certainly  justified  in  coming  to  the  out- 
raged nation’s  rescue.  And,  thus,  there  seems 
to  be  no  escape  from  the  conclusion  that  on 
Christian  principles  a nation  may  be  not  only 
justified  in  going  to  war,  but  may  be  con- 
demned if  she  refuses  to  do  so.  It  looks  as 
though,  sometimes,  it  might  be  the  duty  of 
a Christian  to  fight,  and  that  to  die  on  the 
battlefield  for  humanity  might  be  as  noble  as 
to  die  for  truth  and  justice  in  a dungeon  or 
on  the  scaffold.  The  advocates  of  absolute 
non-resistance  have  never  established  their 
case  — so  it  seems  to  me  — either  in  the  court 
of  common  sense,  or  in  the  court  of  Chris- 
tian teaching.  Christ  left  the  question  of  war 


The  Bible  and  War 


81 


open.  It  is  not  a question  which  can  be  legis- 
lated on  in  one  century,  for  all  the  centuries 
which  are  to  follow.  War  is  indeed  bru- 
tality, but  it  must  sometimes  be  met  by  a 
counter  brutality  in  order  to  prevent  a wider 
brutalization  of  the  world.  It  is  in  very  truth 
savagery,  but  the  weapons  on  one  side  must 
be  met  by  similar  weapons  on  the  other  side 
to  hold  the  world  from  falling  into  the  per- 
manent grip  of  a savage.  If  Charles  Martel 
and  his  Christian  army  had  not  met  and  over- 
thrown the  advancing  hosts  of  Mohammedan- 
ism, then  all  Europe  would  have  passed  under 
the  blighting  power  of  the  Crescent.  If  Hol- 
land had  not  resisted  the  Duke  of  Alva,  then 
Philip  II  would  have  forged  chains  which 
might  never  have  been  broken.  If  England 
had  not  met  and  overcome  the  Spanish  Ar- 
mada, Roman  Catholicism  would  have  gotten 
a new  grip  on  the  English  people.  If  Eng- 
land and  Germany  had  not  overthrown  Na- 
poleon, that  monster  of  ambition  would  have 
caused  new  rivers  of  blood  to  flow.  If  Wash- 
ington had  not  resisted  the  tyranny  of  Great 


82  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

Britain,  the  American  Republic  could  not 
have  entered  on  her  glorious  career.  And  if 
Abraham  Lincoln  had  not  called  for  volun- 
teers, the  Republic  would  have  been  torn  in 
twain  and  the  shackles  of  the  slaves  would 
have  remained,  we  know  not  for  how  long, 
unbroken.  All  wars  are  evil.  They  are  cre- 
ated by  the  passions  of  wicked  men.  But 
wicked  men  may  at  times  so  poison  and  in- 
flame a nation  that  war  against  it  becomes  un- 
escapable.  We  are  to  live  peaceably  with  all 
men  as  far  as  it  lies  within  us,  but  there  are 
times  when  to  live  peaceably  with  some  men 
is  impossible,  and  when  the  only  deliverance 
from  intolerable  cruelty  or  tyranny  lies 
through  the  blood  of  the  battlefield. 

We  are  living  in  a world  in  which  there 
are  many  undeveloped  people,  and  many  per- 
verted people,  people  who  are  diseased,  or 
brutalized,  or  demonized,  and  gentle  meth- 
ods are  consequently  not  always  adequate. 
When  human  beings  are  defective  in  reason, 
and  deficient  in  conscience,  and  have  not  the 
full  use  of  the  distinctively  human  faculties, 


The  Bible  and  War 


83 


being  in  fact  largely  animals  or  creatures  still 
lower,  then  coercion  seems  to  be  one  of  the 
methods  which  God  intends  shall  be  used. 
At  any  rate,  the  use  of  it  is  attended  by  his 
blessing,  and  does  not  violate  the  conscience 
of  a great  majority  of  the  most  earnest  and 
faithful  Christian  men. 

I am  forced,  therefore,  to  admit  the  possible 
occurrence  of  situations  in  which  the  use  of 
force  by  one  nation  against  another  is  both 
rational  and  beneficial,  and  therefore  Chris- 
tian. But  such  situations  come  but  seldom, 
and  as  men  grow  in  the  Christian  spirit,  they 
will  come  less  frequently,  and  finally  they  will 
not  come  at  all. 

If  it  is  said  that  Christ  refused  to  use  a 
sword,  and  forbade  Peter  to  use  a sword,  and 
that  therefore  nations  are  forbidden  by  his 
precept  and  example  to  use  a sword,  my  re- 
ply is  that  Jesus  came  to  found  a spiritual 
kingdom  — a kingdom,  as  he  said, /‘not  of 
this  world  ” — and  that  Peter  was  one  of  his 
agents  in  carrying  out  his  plan.  In  the  estab- 
lishment of  a spiritual  kingdom  no  use  of 


84  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

force  is  permissible.  As  Christian  ministers 
we  can  never  use  compulsion  in  converting 
men.  But  we  as  citizens  of  the  world  are 
under  obligation  to  keep  society  from  falling 
into  chaos  while  this  spiritual  kingdom  is 
slowly  rising,  and  there  are  times  when  the 
interests  of  society  are  best  conserved  by  the 
use  of  force.  Had  Rome  suddenly  ceased  to 
use  the  sword  in  the  first  century,  Christianity 
would  have  been  crushed  along  with  every 
other  good  thing,  in  the  ruins  of  the  Empire. 
Paul  was  always  glad  to  throw  himself,  when 
his  life  was  threatened,  under  the  protection 
of  the  Roman  sword.  It  was  this  sword 
which  made  it  possible,  humanly  speaking, 
for  him  to  do  his  work.  We  Christians  to-day 
do  all  our  work  for  Christ  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  state,  which  owes  not  a little  of 
its  efficiency  to  its  employment  of  the  instru- 
ments of  coercion.  It  protects  itself  day  by 
day  from  enemies  within  by  the  use  of  force, 
and  it  has  the  same  right,  no  doubt,  to  pro- 
tect itself  in  the  same  manner  from  all  enemies 
without.  The  extreme  pacifists  are  noble 


The  Bible  and  War 


85 


men,  but  they  are  in  my  judgment  mistaken. 
I cannot  go  with  them. 

Having  considered  the  way  in  which  the 
New  Testament  may  be  misused  by  the  ad- 
vocates of  non-resistance,  let  us  now  turn  to 
the  devices  of  those  militarists  who  are  al- 
ways wresting  the  Scriptures  into  support  of 
their  principles  and  policies. 

In  the  twenty-fourth  chapter  of  the  first 
gospel,  Jesus  is  reported  to  have  said:  “Ye 
shall  hear  of  wars  and  rumors  of  wars : see 
that  ye  be  not  troubled,  for  all  these  things 
must  come  to  pass,  but  the  end  is  not  yet.” 
What  shall  we  infer  from  this?  that  wars 
are  a part  of  the  world’s  plan,  a feature  of 
the  divine  order,  beneficent  incidents  in  the 
unfolding  drama?  Shall  we  say  that  wars 
are  ordained  of  God,  planned  in  heaven,  ex- 
pedients devised  by  infinite  wisdom  for  the 
education  and  discipline  of  a race  which  can- 
not be  trained  in  any  other  way?  If  this  be 
the  correct  interpretation,  then  wars  should 
not  be  looked  upon  with  horror  or  even  re- 
gret. We  should  not  strive  to  head  them  off, 


86  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

or  to  shorten  them,  but  allow  them  to  work 
out  their  foreordained  ends.  But  surely  a 
better  interpretation  is  possible.  When  Jesus 
said : “ These  things  must  come  to  pass,”  he 

was  not  thinking  of  the  wise  provisions  of 
God,  but  of  the  ignorance  and  fury  of  man. 
Wars  are  indeed  inevitable,  but  it  is  because 
of  man’s  folly  and  wickedness,  and  not  be- 
cause of  the  divine  planning.  All  wars  are 
planned  on  earth.  All  wars  are  the  result  of 
human  sin.  When  Jesus  looked  out  upon  the 
population  of  Palestine,  seething  like  a caul- 
dron, men’s  hearts  full  of  vanity  and  ambi- 
tion and  greed,  he  knew  that  out  of  this  con- 
dition of  heart  nothing  but  devastation  and 
bloodshed  could  come.  The  Jews  of  the  first 
century  hated  Rome  with  an  implacable  ha- 
tred. Their  fingers  itched  to  tear  the  crown 
from  Caesar’s  head.  When  passion  and 
fanaticism  rule  the  heart  of  a nation,  that  na- 
tion is  certain  to  plunge  headlong  into  war. 
Wars  are  a part  of  the  world  plan  not  by  the 
good  pleasure  of  God,  but  by  the  foolish 
choice  of  man.  It  is  not  God’s  will  that  men 


The  Bible  and  War 


87 


shall  kill  one  another;  they  kill  one  another 
because  sin  has  blinded  their  eyes  and  they 
know  not  what  they  do.  Our  Lord  said : 
“ It  must  needs  be  that  offenses  come,  but 
woe  to  him  by  whom  the  offense  comes.” 
And  so  we  can  say : “ It  must  needs  be  that 
wars  come  — considering  man’s  stupidity  and 
brutishness  and  wickedness  — but  woe  to  the 
nation  by  which  the  war  comes.”  Let  us  not 
forget  the  last  clause  in  the  sentence  — “ the 
end  is  not  yet.”  War  is  not  the  last  chapter 
in  human  history.  Bloodshed  is  not  the  final 
word.  War  occurs  in  the  initial  stages. 
War  is  only  preliminary,  incidental,  transi- 
tory. The  end  of  the  world  is  harmony.  The 
last  word  is  peace. 

In  the  twenty-second  chapter  of  the  third 
gospel  it  is  written : “ He  that  hath  no  sword, 

let  him  sell  his  garment  and  buy  one,”  or  in 
our  vernacular : “ Sell  your  coat  and  buy  a 
sword.”  Strange  words  indeed  to  fall  from 
the  lips  of  the  Prince  of  Peace!  The  mili- 
tarist has  seized  upon  them,  and  uses  them 
with  glee.  Let  us  see  what  they  mean.  A 


88  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

sentence  which  is  obscure,  must  always  be 
read  in  the  light  of  other  sentences  whose 
meaning  is  clear.  On  the  very  night  on  which 
Jesus  said:  “Sell  your  coat  and  buy  a 
sword,”  he  said  to  one  of  his  disciples  who 
ventured  to  use  his  sword : “ Put  up  your 
sword;  for  all  who  take  the  sword  shall  per- 
ish by  the  sword.”  The  next  morning  Jesus 
was  arraigned  before  Pontius  Pilate,  and 
Pilate  asked  him:  “Art  thou  a king?” 
Jesus  replied:  “I  am,”  and  when  he  saw 
how  amazed  the  Roman  Procurator  was  be- 
cause Jesus  had  none  of  the  paraphernalia  of 
royalty  and  carried  nothing  in  his  hand,  the 
prisoner  went  on  to  say:  “If  my  kingdom 
were  of  this  world,  then  would  my  servants 
fight.  But  now  is  my  kingdom  not  from 
hence.”  It  seems  clear  then  from  these  two 
sentences,  that  Jesus  had  no  intention  of  using 
a sword  himself  or  allowing  his  disciples  to 
use  one.  Jesus  died  upon  the  cross  making 
no  effort  to  overthrow  his  foes,  and  all  the 
apostles,  with  one  exception,  met  violent 
deaths,  not  one  of  them  ever  having  defended 


The  Bible  and  War 


89 


himself  with  steel.  When,  therefore,  Jesus 
says : “ Sell  your  coat  and  buy  a sword,” 
he  is  speaking  in  vivid  and  piercing  meta- 
phors. He  has  now  reached  the  end  of  his 
career,  and  he  reminds  his  friends  that  from 
this  time  onward  they  will  meet  a set  of  con- 
ditions different  from  those  they  faced  at  the 
beginning.  At  first  they  went  out  with  no 
provisions,  throwing  themselves  entirely  on 
the  hospitality  of  those  to  whom  they  brought 
their  message.  In  many  a home  they  found 
a cordial  greeting,  and  all  their  needs  were 
supplied  by  the  generosity  of  kind  hearted 
friends.  But  now  the  temper  of  the  world 
has  changed.  Men  realize  what  the  new  re- 
ligion is.  They  see  that  it  means  the  con- 
demnation of  their  favorite  sins,  and  the  aban- 
donment of  customs  in  which  they  take  de- 
light. Henceforth,  he  says,  you  will  meet  a 
hostile  world.  Homes  will  be  shut  against 
you.  Men  will  suspect  and  hate  you.  You 
will  have  to  fight  every  step  of  the  way. 
You  will  be  obliged  to  take  care  of  yourself. 
Others  will  not  assist  you.  You  must  sell 


90  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

your  coat,  give  up  all  idea  of  comfort,  and 
buy  a sword,  supply  yourself  with  the  keen 
edge  of  an  aggressive  spirit.  Be  prepared  to 
attack  the  hosts  which  come  out  to  meet  you. 
You  cannot  conquer  unless  you  defy  the 
world.  The  sentence,  “ Sell  your  coat  and 
buy  a sword,”  is  like  this  other  sentence,  “ If 
your  right  hand  offend  you,  cut  it  off,”  and 
like  this,  “ If  your  right  eye  offend  you  pluck 
it  out,”  and  like  this,  “ If  you  have  faith  as  a 
grain  of  mustard  seed,  you  can  say  to  this 
mountain,  remove,  and  it  will  remove.”  They 
are  all  vivid,  picturesque,  arresting,  thought 
compelling  and  unforgetable. 

Of  course  the  disciples  misunderstood  him. 
They  were  always  doing  that.  Their  wits 
were  dull.  One  day  he  said  to  them : “ Be- 
ware of  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees  and  Sad- 
ducees,”  and  they  began  at  once  to  think  of 
loaves  of  bread  baked  in  Pharisaic  ovens. 
He  was  saddened  by  their  stupidity.  “ Do 
you  not  yet  understand  me  ? ” he  said,  “ Can 
you  not  see  that  I am  not  thinking  of  bread? 
I am  thinking  of  ideas.  They  are  mighty 


The  Bible  and  War 


91 


forces  in  this  world.  They  mould  human 
lives,  and  fix  the  fate  of  empires.  False  ideas 
are  the  deadliest  of  all  forces.  The  ideas 
of  the  leading  religious  men  of  your  day  are 
false,  beware  of  them.”  And  so  when  he  says, 
“ Sell  your  coat  and  buy  a sword,”  the 
disciples,  like  little  children,  bring  out  two 
bits  of  sharpened  steel,  saying : “ Here  are 
two  swords ! ” O the  pathos  of  it ! The  idea 
of  meeting  the  panoplied  hosts  of  the  might- 
iest military  empire  known  to  history  by  two 
little  blades  of  steel ! Jesus,  looking  upon 
them  with  pity,  says,  with  a sigh,  “ It  is 
enough.”  In  other  words,  “ Let  us  drop  the 
subject.  Let  us  talk  of  something  else.” 
The  disciples  may  be  pardoned  for  their 
stupidity  for  they  lived  in  the  early  dawn, 
but  what  excuse  can  you  make  for  grown  men 
in  the  twentieth  century,  who  find  in  the  words 
of  Jesus,  “ Sell  your  coat  and  buy  a sword,” 
divine  warrant  for  the  use  of  howitzers ! 

In  the  tenth  chapter  of  the  first  gospel  Jesus 
is  reported  as  saying:  “Think  not  that  I 
came  to  send  peace  on  earth : I came  not  to 


92  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

send  peace  but  a sword.”  This  is  one  of  the 
most  quoted  of  all  our  Lord’s  sayings,  and 
the  militarist  makes  use  of  it  in  season  and 
out  of  season.  Jesus  is  alleged  to  be  declar- 
ing in  these  words  his  supreme  purpose,  and 
that  purpose  is  nothing  less  than  the  stirring 
up  of  wars.  Jesus  desires  progress,  and 
wars  are  essential  to  progress,  and  there- 
fore wherever  the  Christian  religion  goes, 
you  must  expect  battlefields  red  with 
slaughter.  Jesus  was  no  sentimentalist,  we 
are  told,  he  did  not  shrink  from  the  idea  of 
war.  Perpetual  peace  is  only  an  iridescent 
dream  — and  not  a beautiful  dream  at  that, 
as  Von  Moltke  long  ago  asserted.  The  idea 
that  nations  can  live  together  in  peace  is  a 
fancy  of  incorrigible  visionaries.  The  Lord 
of  Life  knows  what  this  world  is  in  need  of, 
and  so  he  comes  to  give  a larger  place  to  the 
sword. 

In  order  to  understand  these  words,  we 
must  glance  at  the  context,  the  words  which 
go  before  and  the  words  which  come  after. 
No  sentence  of  a discourse  can  be  rightly  in- 


The  Bible  and  War 


93 


terpreted  if  isolated,  and  robbed  of  the  il- 
luminating power  which  lies  in  the  sentences 
around  it.  This  particular  sentence  is  a part 
of  a charge  which  Jesus  delivered  to  twelve 
young  men  about  to  set  out  on  a tour  for 
preaching  his  gospel  of  love.  He  began  by 
reminding  them  that  they  were  going  on  a 
hazardous  mission.  They  were  being  sent 
like  sheep  into  the  midst  of  wolves.  Sheep 
hurt  nobody.  Wolves  snap  and  bite  and 
lacerate  and  kill.  The  world  is  like  a wolf, 
it  will  not  hesitate  to  destroy.  But  you,  he 
said,  are  to  be  sheep:  you  are  not  permitted 
to  hurt  anybody.  You  are  to  be  always  harm- 
less. If  there  is  any  killing  to  be  done,  it 
must  be  done  by  the  wolves.  After  painting 
a catalogue  of  the  tribulations  and  sufferings 
which  they  might  reasonably  expect,  and  after 
telling  them  that  even  if  men  killed  them 
their  fate  was  not  to  be  deplored,  for  there 
are  worse  things  in  this  world  than  being 
killed,  he  goes  on  to  add : “ Think  not  that 
I come  to  send  peace  on  earth,  I come  not  to 
send  peace  but  a sword.”  We  have  here  in- 


94  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

finitives  not  of  purpose,  as  the  grammarians 
say,  but  of  result.  Do  not  think  that  the  im- 
mediate result  of  my  gospel  is  going  to  be 
tranquillity,  calm,  repose ! There  was  dan- 
ger of  them  thinking  just  that.  After  the 
long  centuries  of  tumult  and  strife,  men’s 
hearts  were  hungry  for  peace.  And  now  if 
Jesus  were  indeed  the  promised  Messiah,  it 
was  natural  that  men  should  expect  him  to 
usher  in  at  once  an  age  of  universal  har- 
mony and  good  will.  He  warns  them  against 
this  expectation.  “ Do  not  think,”  he  said, 
“ that  justice  is  going  to  be  established 
without  protest,  that  truth  is  going  to  be 
crowned  without  opposition,  that  love  is  go- 
ing to  be  enthroned  without  strife.  Do 
not  dream  that  the  principle  of  righteous- 
ness is  going  to  be  set  up  in  the  king- 
dom of  life  in  the  midst  of  tranquillity,  and  by 
the  universal  approbation  of  consenting 
minds.  The  immediate  effect  of  the  proc- 
lamation of  my  principles  will  be  fresh  con- 
troversy, increased  dissension,  more  violent 
commotion  and  struggle.  In  many  cases  the 


The  Bible  and  War 


95 


strife  will  cut  deep  into  the  family  circle.  A 
son  will  be  against  his  father,  a daughter 
against  her  mother,  a daughter-in-law  against 
her  mother-in-law.  The  young  people  will  re- 
spond to  my  high  idealism  more  readily  than 
their  parents.  But  no  matter  what  it  costs, 
one  must  be  faithful  to  the  truth.  This  is 
my  gospel ; go,  teach  it.  You  do  not  labor  in 
vain.  So  finely  is  the  universe  adjusted,  that 
if  a man  gives  in  the  right  spirit,  even  a cup  of 
cold  water,  the  heavens  will  open  and  the 
blessing  of  God  descend. 

Is  Jesus  in  this  charge  discussing  questions 
of  diplomacy  or  considering  the  duties  and 
rights  of  nations?  No.  Nations  are  not  in 
all  his  thoughts.  He  is  talking  to  twelve 
ministers,  and  he  warns  them  not  to  expect 
humanity  to  accept  the  truth  without  con- 
troversies and  conflicts  and  struggles.  The 
word  “ sword  ” is  a metaphor.  It  stands  jfor 
strife. 

There  is  only  one  act  of  our  Lord  which 
has  been  claimed  to  lend  support  to  the  doc- 
trine of  militarism,  and  that  is  his  cleansing 


96  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

of  the  temple.  It  is  easy  to  read  into  the  story 
more  than  is  there.  Jesus  has  often  been 
painted  by  imaginative  artists  in  a towering 
rage  beating  men  with  a ponderous  whip,  and 
smashing  everything  which  came  in  his  way. 
The  Evangelists  record  no  such  scene.  It 
seems  from  what  they  say  that  when  he  saw 
the  shameless  desecration  of  the  temple  he 
hastily  twisted  some  cords  lying  on  the  floor 
into  a whip,  and  by  waving  this  in  the  air  he 
started  the  sheep  and  steers  out  of  the  temple. 
It  is  not  certain  that  he  struck  one  of  them. 
It  is  inconceivable  to  any  one  really  acquainted 
with  the  Jesus  of  the  New  Testament  that  he 
struck  a man.  He  struck  the  men  with  noth- 
ing but  the  keen  glance  of  his  reproachful 
eyes.  When  he  looked  at  them  and  said: 
“ Take  these  things  hence,”  they  obeyed. 
They  were  not  afraid  of  his  whip:  they  cow- 
ered before  his  soul.  Like  guilty  things 
afraid  they  slunk  away.  Desperate  indeed 
must  be  the  cause  of  a man  who  in  order  to 
prove  that  war  is  justifiable  goes  to  the  story 
of  the  cleansing  of  the  temple. 


The  Bible  and  War 


97 


This,  then,  is  certain:  the  man  of  men  re- 
lies upon  a power  for  the  conquest  of  the 
world  mightier  than  physical  force.  The 
kingdom  of  good  will  is  to  be  built  up  by 
persuasion.  The  peoples  of  the  world  are  to 
be  brought  into  a gentler  temper  by  the  po- 
tent persuasiveness  of  a loving  heart.  The 
exile  on  Patmos  sometimes,  in  his  mind’s  eye, 
saw  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords 
seated  on  a war  horse,  and  riding  at  the  head 
of  a vast  and  conquering  army.  The  leader 
carried  indeed  a sword,  but  he  carried  it  in 
his  mouth.  The  weapon  with  which  Christ 
conquers  is  his  message.  His  sword  is  a 
word,  and  that  word  is  love.  It  is  the  sharp- 
est and  longest  and  mightiest  of  all  swords. 
It  is  the  chosen  weapon  of  the  King  of  kings. 

When  Paul  exhorts  us  to  put  on  the  whole 
armor  of  God,  he  closes  his  catalogue  of 
weapons  with  the  sword.  It  is  the  sword  of 
the  Spirit,  he  says,  or,  in  other  phrase,  it  is 
the  word  of  God.  Paul  always  is  careful  to 
make  it  clear  that  the  weapons  of  our  warfare 
are  not  carnal.  We  are  to  conquer  by  the 


98  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

spirit  of  fraternity,  good  will,  forgiveness, 
compassion,  love.  How  long  will  mankind  be 
plagued  and  tormented  by  war?  Until  men 
grow  sick  of  the  armor  of  Caesar,  and  con- 
sent to  put  on  the  armor  of  God. 


Ill 


The  Church  and  Peace 

Everybody  seems  to  take  it  for  granted 
that  the  Christian  church  is  committed  to  the 
principle  of  peace.  The  birth  of  Jesus  was 
announced  by  angels  singing  of  peace,  and 
for  1900  years  the  founder  of  the  church  has 
borne  the  title  “ Prince  of  Peace.”  None  of 
his  sayings  are  better  known  than : “ Blessed 

are  the  peacemakers,  for  they  shall  be  called 
the  sons  of  God,”  and  “ Blessed  are  the  meek, 
for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth.”  His  great 
exhortation : “ Love  your  enemies,  and  pray 

for  them  that  persecute  you  ” has  made  a 
profound  impression  on  the  mind  of  the 
world.  Everybody  knows  that  the  religion  of 
Christ  proclaims  a message  of  love,  and 
ascribes  an  immeasurable  value  to  every  hu- 
man being.  Men  who  know  nothing  else  of 


99 


100  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

the  Christian  religion  know  that  it  proclaims 
the  fatherhood  of  God,  and  the  brotherhood 
of  man.  The  man  in  the  street  has  forgotten 
much  that  he  learned  when  a boy,  but  he  re- 
members that  Christ  declared  the  first  and 
great  commandment  to  be,  “ Love  God,”  and 
the  second,  “ Love  your  neighbor  as  your- 
self.” The  outside  world  is  quite  perplexed 
then  over  the  fact  that  the  Christian  church 
has  never  been  more  zealous  in  the  cause  of 
peace.  The  longer  one  ponders  the  matter, 
the  more  mysterious  it  becomes  that  profess- 
ing Christians  have  never  in  the  mass  taken  a 
bold  stand  against  war.  Wherever  the  Chris- 
tian religion  goes,  it  carries  with  it  a book,  in 
the  first  part  of  which  there  is  a picture  of  a 
bonfire  in  which  the  paraphernalia  of  war  is 
being  consumed,  and  in  the  second  part  of 
which  there  is  a picture  of  a beautiful  city 
coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven. 
Christians  are  expected  to  pray  without  ceas- 
ing : “ Thy  kingdom  come,  Thy  will  be 

done  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven  ” — and 
it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  city  of  God  can 


The  Church  and  Peace 


101 


come  down  and  rest  upon  a world  covered 
with  howitzers  and  lyddite  shells.  The 
foundations  of  the  city  which  the  New  Testa- 
ment promises  flash  like  gems,  and  it  is  in- 
conceivable that  for  gems  we  are  permitted 
to  substitute  instruments  of  slaughter.  It 
seems  to  be  absurd  for  nations  to  keep  pray- 
ing, Thy  kingdom  come,  when  they  go  on 
coining  their  treasure  into  swords  and  guns. 
The  world  a long  time  ago  accepted  the  test 
suggested  by  Jesus:  “By  their  fruits  ye 
shall  know  them,”  and  the  present  generation 
insists  on  judging  the  church  by  what  it  is 
able  to  do.  For  many  years  the  question  has 
been  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  thoughtful 
men,  is  the  Christian  religion  practicable,  or 
is  it  only  a dazzling  dream?  Are  the  prin- 
ciples of  Christ  workable,  or  are  they  only 
the  brilliant  suggestions  of  a beautiful  mind? 
Are  his  commandments  binding  ori  diplomats 
and  rulers,  or  are  they  only  poetic  sentences 
to  be  memorized  by  Sunday  school  boys  and 
girls?  Is  the  Golden  Rule  for  empires  as 
well  as  for  individuals?  Are  nations  to  for- 


102  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

give,  or  men  only?  Has  the  great  command- 
ment binding  force  upon  statesmen  or  are  they 
privileged  to  act  under  a different  law?  Are 
patience  and  compassion  and  tenderness  and 
forbearance  and  sacrifice  wholesome  virtues 
in  the  realm  of  international  life?  Is  it 
Utopian  to  expect  nations  to  do  justice  and 
love  mercy  and  walk  humbly  before  God? 

These  questions  were  often  in  men’s  minds 
during  the  last  two  decades  of  armed  peace, 
and  since  the  opening  of  the  present  war  the 
questions  have  become  more  importunate  and 
piercing.  The  questions  now  uppermost  are : 
What  has  the  church  done?  What  good  has 
it  accomplished  ? What  truths  has  it  suc- 
ceeded in  writing  on  the  mind  of  the  world? 
It  has  claimed  to  be  a divinely  inspired 
teacher  — what  has  it  taught?  It  has  pro- 
fessed to  be  the  representative  of  God  on 
earth.  Has  it  faithfully  represented  him? 
Where  is  its  promised  power?  Does  it  not 
stand  impotent  in  the  hour  of  the  world’s 
greatest  need?  If  it  was  dowered  with 
heavenly  authority,  why  could  it  not  hold  Eu- 


The  Church  and  Peace  103 

rope  back  from  plunging  into  this  abyss  of 
blood  and  tears?  There  are  many  who  pass 
from  questions  to  affirmations.  They  declare 
boldly  that  the  church  has  been  discovered  to 
be  incompetent  and  useless.  Others  say  that 
the  Christian  religion  has  broken  down, 
Christ  taught  a religion  which  the  world  will 
never  accept,  and  which  is  not  adequate  to 
meet  the  needs  of  our  modern  world.  It  is 
declared  that  the  Man  of  Galilee  was  not  the 
one  who  was  to  come,  and  that  we  are  now 
forced  to  look  for  another. 

What  shall  we  say  in  reply  to  all  this? 
Let  us  first  of  all  say  frankly  that  the  Church 
of  Christ  has  been  in  large  measure  recreant 
to  its  trust.  The  church  in  all  lands  has 
failed  lamentably  to  do  its  full  duty.  It  has 
everywhere  put  emphasis  on  anise  and  cum- 
min, and  neglected  the  weightier  matters  of  the 
law.  It  has  squandered  too  much  time  on 
sacrifice,  and  forgotten  that  God’s  chief  de- 
mand is  mercy.  It  has  spent  too  much  of  its 
energies  on  questions  of  ritual  and  sacraments 
and  church  government,  and  not  given  the 


104  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

great  principle  of  love  the  place  which  Christ 
gave  it.  The  pulpit  has  in  no  Christian  land 
been  faithful  in  proclaiming  the  great  fact  that 
God  has  made  of  one  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  Nowhere  has  it  taught  with  fidelity 
and  passion  the  new  commandment : “ Love 
one  another  as  I have  loved  you.”  Christ 
says  that  love  is  the  badge  of  Christian  dis- 
cipleship,  that  it  is  the  proof  of  genuine  dis- 
cipleship,  and  that  it  is  the  one  irrefutable  evi- 
dence that  he  came  down  from  heaven.  The 
new  commandment  has  never  had  a place  in 
the  great  creeds  of  the  church.  When  the 
church  goes  up  into  the  temple  to  pray,  it 
must  not  take  the  strut  of  the  Pharisee,  but 
the  humble  attitude  of  the  Publican,  crying, 
“ God  be  merciful  to  me  the  sinner.” 

The  principle  of  union  of  church  and  state 
has  worked  disastrously  in  Christian  history 
from  the  day  it  was  first  adopted  under  Con- 
stantine down  to  the  present  hour.  Wherever 
it  has  been  tried  it  has  worked  havoc  with 
religion.  Whenever  the  ministers  of  Christ 
become  the  salaried  officials  of  the  state,  they 


The  Church  and  Peace  105 

subject  themselves  to  a pressure  which  is  not 
wholesome.  There  is  forced  upon  them  a 
conservatism  which  is  hostile  to  progress,  and 
they  are  in  danger  of  being  brought  into  sub- 
jection to  ideals  which  are  contrary  to  the 
ideals  of  Christ.  Strong  men,  in  isolated  in- 
stances, have  been  able  to  withstand  these  in- 
fluences, but  the  mass  of  the  clergy  have  al- 
ways been  prone  to  defer  too  much  to  the 
ruling  sentiment  and  policy  of  the  state.  A 
false  distinction  has  been  made  between  the 
secular  and  the  sacred,  and  the  minister  of 
Christ  has  contented  himself  with  preparing 
souls  for  the  next  world  while  the  ministers 
of  state  have  gone  on  unhindered  to  rule  men 
after  their  own  will  in  this  world.  The  clergy 
of  the  Russian  church  have  done  many  noble 
and  beautiful  things,  but  who  would  dare  say 
that  the  Russian  church  has  been  faithful  to 
the  cause  of  humanity  during  the  last  thou- 
sand years?  Has  not  that  church  put  too 
much  emphasis  on  the  importance  of  kissing 
icons  or  sacred  pictures,  and  on  the  value  of 
a pilgrimage  to  the  Jordan  river,  while  large 


106  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

areas  of  life  have  been  totally  neglected,  civil 
officials  being  allowed  to  mould  and  direct  the 
life  of  the  people?  Roman  Catholicism  has 
performed  many  a noble  service  to  humanity. 
Her  contribution  to  civilization  is  varied  and 
invaluable.  Many  of  her  priests  have  been 
men  of  great  courage,  and  magnificent  char- 
acter, but  is  it  to  be  denied  that  in  every  Ro- 
man Catholic  country  too  much  stress  has 
been  placed  on  Paternosters  and  Ave  Marias, 
and  too  much  power  has  been  ascribed  to  the 
saints  in  the  next  world,  and  too  much 
thought  has  been  given  to  purgatory  and  hell, 
and  not  sufficient  attention  has  been  bestowed 
upon  that  kingdom  of  love  which  is  to  be 
established  in  the  hearts  and  homes  of  men? 
The  Lutheran  church  of  Germany  has  an  il- 
lustrious record.  To  the  end  of  time  the 
world  will  be  indebted  to  her  scholars  and 
saints,  but  who  would  dare  say  that  the  Lu- 
theran clergy  have  for  the  last  forty  years 
been  faithful  in  proclaiming  the  central  truths 
of  the  Christian  religion?  Much  has  been 
said  about  justification  by  faith,  and  the  doc- 


The  Church  and  Peace  107 

trine  of  consubstantiation.  Children  have 
been  instructed  in  the  catechism  and  have  been 
trained  to  repeat  the  commandments  and  the 
Lord’s  Prayer,  but  what  has  the  Lutheran 
church  done  on  the  whole  to  check  the  growth 
of  militarism  and  to  build  up  in  the  German 
people  a Christian  attitude  to  Slavs  and 
Frenchmen?  It  has  been  in  Germany  as  it 
has  been  in  the  Greek  and  Roman  Catholic 
countries.  The  ministers  of  religion,  salaried 
by  the  state,  have  not  been  free  to  discuss  na- 
tional policies,  or  to  criticise  and  condemn 
the  action  of  the  ministers  of  state,  the  re- 
sult being  that  Europe  has  been  ruled  for  the 
most  part  by  men  who  have  slight  knowledge 
of  Christian  principles,  and  even  slighter  in- 
clination to  put  these  principles  into  prac- 
tice. When  you  close  the  mouths  of  the  min- 
isters of  Christ  on  national  policy  you  give 
free  scope  to  the  Machiavellis  and  the  Met- 
ternichs  and  the  Clausewitzes  and  the  Sharn- 
horsts  and  the  Bemhardis,  and  then  certain 
good  people  are  surprised  that  civilization 
should  get  into  a ditch ! This  world  cannot 


108  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

get  on  without  the  faithful  application  of 
Christian  principles  to  national  affairs. 
There  is  none  other  name  under  heaven 
whereby  we  must  be  saved,  but  the  name  of 
Jesus.  Statesmen  who  reject  his  principles 
are  only  leading  nations  to  their  doom. 
Christ  is  a stone  which  diplomats  and  rulers 
can  reject,  but  they  reject  him  to  their  ever- 
lasting loss.  It  is  forever  true : “ He  that 

falleth  on  this  stone  shall  be  broken  to  pieces ; 
but  on  whomsoever  it  shall  fall,  it  will  scatter 
him  as  dust.” 

The  Anglican  church  has  also  been  recreant 
to  its  duty.  Individual  leaders  have  spoken 
and  written  brave  and  telling  words,  but  the 
Anglican  church  has  never  put  forth  its 
mighty  strength  to  make  war  upon  war. 
English  churchmen  have  in  appalling  numbers 
apologized  for  every  war  in  which  Great 
Britain  has  ever  had  a part.  Even  the  Boer 
war  was  defended  by  them.  War  has  not 
seemed  hideous  to  the  average  Englishman 
because  the  Anglican  church  has  been  silent 
when  it  should  have  spoken  in  tones  of  thun- 


The  Church  and  Peace  109 

der.  The  non-conformist  pulpit  of  Great 
Britain  has  been  far  in  advance  of  the  An- 
glican in  endeavoring  to  create  a conscience 
against  national  aggression  and  snobbery,  and 
to  build  up  a more  Christian  temper  in  deal- 
ing with  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

In  our  own  country  our  churches  have  also 
been  remiss.  Our  ministers  have  not  been 
gagged  by  entanglements  with  the  state,  but 
we  have  been  dominated  by  an  individualist 
gospel,  and  preachers  with  few  exceptions 
have  let  what  they  call  politics  alone.  They 
have  been  satisfied  to  save  souls  and  let  the 
nation  get  on  as  it  could.  Men  who  are 
averse  to  taking  an  interest  in  civic  condi- 
tions, are  still  less  inclined  to  devote  them- 
selves to  international  afifairs,  and  so  the 
clergy  of  the  United  States  have,  on  the  whole, 
allowed  the  international  problem  to  lie  out- 
side their  province.  It  has  been  left  for  a 
handful  of  naval  experts  and  the  Navy 
League,  and  a few  congressional  hotheads, 
and  a small  company  of  Jingo  editors  to  de- 
termine what  our  naval  policy  shall  be.  We 


110  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

have  within  a few  years  spent  over  two  bil- 
lion dollars  on  our  navy,  and  this  navy  is 
to-day,  according  to  naval  experts,  absolutely 
inadequate  to  protect  us  from  any  foe  who 
cares  to  land  upon  our  shore.  Although 
there  are  thirty-three  millions  of  confessed 
Christians  in  our  country,  it  is  doubtful  if  we 
should  have  squandered  more  money  on  bat- 
tleships than  we  have,  if  we  had  all  been  in- 
fidels or  Mohammedans  or  Apache  Indians. 
The  Church  of  Christ  exerts,  directly,  only  a 
feeble  and  fluctuating  influence  on  the  spirit 
and  policy  of  our  government. 

For  many  years  the  impotency  of  organized 
Christianity  in  the  realm  of  world  politics  has 
been  an  open  scandal.  The  church  has  long 
since  ceased  to  be  considered  a national  fac- 
tor among  the  forces  working  for  peace. 
During  the  last  twenty  years  when  men  have 
looked  around  for  a possible  escape  from  the 
crushing  burdens  of  militarism,  and  for  a bul- 
wark against  war,  they  have  turned  to  the 
bankers,  or  to  the  merchants,  or  to  the  scien- 
tists, or  to  the  Socialists,  or  to  the  humani- 


The  Church  and  Peace  111 

tarians,  rather  than  to  church  members  for 
deliverance.  It  has  been  claimed  that  the 
bankers  of  the  world  would  not  permit  great 
nations  to  rush  into  war,  and  that  the  leaders 
of  commerce  would  never  suffer  the  business 
of  the  world  to  be  thrown  into  chaos,  and 
that  science  would  render  the  instruments  of 
destruction  so  deadly  that  men  would  refuse 
to  fight  any  more,  and  that  the  Socialists  with 
their  doctrine  of  comradeship  and  their  policy 
of  international  cooperation  would  block  any 
effort  of  parliaments  and  rulers  to  induce 
v/age  earners  to  fight  one  another,  and  that 
humanitarians,  lovers  of  their  kind,  would 
rise  up  in  horror  at  the  very  beginning  of  war 
and  compel  the  carnage  to  stop,  but  seldom 
has  any  one  suggested  that  the  Christian 
church  might  have  anything  to  do  in  pre- 
venting a world  baptism  of  blood.  The 
church  is  the  greatest  of  all  organizations, 
possessing  more  men  and  more  money  than 
any  other,  its  fundamental  doctrine  is  love, 
and  it  carries  at  the  front  the  banner  of  the 
cross,  proclaiming  its  belief  in  sacrificial  serv- 


112  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

ice,  and  yet  in  the  twentieth  century  when 
men  look  for  a savior  from  the  burden  of 
armaments  and  for  a refuge  from  the  war- 
tempest,  they  look  in  every  other  direction 
rather  than  toward  the  Christian  church! 

This  must  be  because  of  the  record  which 
the  church  has  made.  The  church  has  at 
times  engaged  in  war  herself.  She  has  been 
the  leader  in  wars,  and  when  she  has  not  her- 
self led,  she  has  consecrated  the  flags  which 
the  nations  have  carried  into  battle.  She  has 
sanctioned  wars  in  her  councils,  and  invoked 
on  them  the  blessing  of  heaven.  She  has  had 
all  sorts  of  excuses  and  apologies  and  de- 
fenses for  every  war  that  has  ever  been 
waged.  The  Russian  church  did  not  throw 
itself  against  the  war  of  Russia  with  Japan, 
nor  did  the  Anglican  church  throw  itself 
against  the  war  of  Great  Britain  with  the 
Boers,  nor  did  American  organized  Christian- 
ity hurl  itself  against  our  war  with  Spain. 
These  were  among  the  most  inexcusable  and 
indefensible  wars  of  the  last  quarter  of  a cen- 
tury, and  yet  the  majority  of  the  leaders  of 


The  Church  and  Peace  113 

the  Church  of  Christ  either  openly  approved 
them,  or  maintained  a consenting  silence. 

It  is  this  failure  of  the  church  to  take  a 
bold  and  firm  stand  on  the  great  moral  issues 
of  mankind,  to  hurl  itself  with  crushing  force 
upon  the  acknowledged  evils  of  history  that 
give  the  ungodly  a chance  to  blaspheme.  Men 
say  in  derision : “ What  do  Christians  more 
than  others?  They  are  precisely  like  other 
men.  After  all  their  Bible  reading  and  ser- 
mon listening,  and  praying,  they  are  no  more 
enthusiastic  for  righteousness  and  no  more 
hostile  to  evil  than  are  many  men  who  never 
pray  at  all  and  who  make  no  Christian  pro- 
fessions.” It  is  not  uncommon  to  find  out- 
side the  church,  among  the  unbelievers  and 
agnostics,  men  of  clearer  insight  and  nobler 
moral  passions  than  can  be  found  in  many 
church  officials. 

If  the  attitude  of  the  church  toward  armed 
peace  was  such  as  to  provoke  contempt  among 
large  numbers  of  forward  looking  men,  this 
contempt  broke  into  open  derision  when,  last 
August,  the  great  war  began.  At  once  a 


114  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

fierce  cry  of  condemnation  of  the  church  went 
up  around  the  world.  All  the  enemies  of  the 
church  lifted  up  their  voices  together.  The 
skeptic  uttered  his  gibe  and  the  infidel  got  in 
his  jeer.  All  the  questioning  and  doubting 
souls  were  pushed  down  into  a deeper  doubt. 
They  had  surmised  that  Christ,  possibly,  was 
the  one  who  was  to  redeem  the  world,  but  the 
collapse  of  Christian  civilization  filled  their 
hearts  with  misgivings.  All  the  lukewarm 
friends  of  the  church  stood  off  at  a greater 
distance,  and  all  believers  whose  faith  had 
been  weak,  felt  the  foundations  quivering  be- 
neath them.  Men  who  had  been  on  the  edge 
of  unbelief  were  pushed  over,  and  men  in 
whose  minds  the  ferment  of  doubt  had  been 
at  work,  suddenly  reached  final  conclusions, 
and  their  decision  was  rendered  against  the 
church.  There  was  no  end  to  the  sarcastic 
questions:  “ Is  this  Christianity?  Is  this  the 
outcome  of  Christian  teaching?  Is  this  the 
best  that  the  Church  of  Christ  can  do?”  It 
was  a rare  opportunity  for  the  cartoonist,  and 
he  at  once  began  to  give  us  pictures  of  Chris- 


The  Church  and  Peace  115 

tian  nations  flying  at  one  another’s  throats, 
while  astonished  barbarians  and  savages 
looked  on  in  amazement,  wondering  if  the 
interests  of  humanity  did  not  demand  that  they 
should  interfere.  In  magazines  and  papers 
men  of  literary  force  and  fame  began  to  dis- 
cuss the  failure  of  the  church,  and  some  of 
them  exploited  in  vivid  phrases  the  failure  of 
Christianity.  An  English  novelist  expressed 
the  feeling  of  many  hearts  when  he  wrote  in 
an  American  magazine : “ Three  hundred 

thousand  church  spires  raised  to  the  glory  of 
Christ.  Three  hundred  million  human  beings 
baptized  into  his  service ! And  — war  to  the 
death  of  them  all!  Let  your  hearts  beat  to 
God  and  your  fists  in  the  face  of  the  enemy. 
God  on  the  lips  of  each  potentate,  and  under 
three  hundred  thousand  spires  prayer  that 
twenty-two  million  servants  of  Christ  may 
receive  from  God  the  blessed  strength  to  tear 
and  blow  each  other  to  pieces,  to  ravage  and 
bum,  to  wrench  husbands  from  wives,  fathers 
from  their  children,  to  starve  the  poor,  and 
everywhere  destroy  the  works  of  the  spirit. 


116  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

Prayer  under  three  hundred  thousand  spires 
for  the  blessed  strength  of  God  to  use  the 
noblest,  most  loyal  instincts  of  the  human  race 
to  the  ends  of  carnage!  God  be  with  us  to 
the  death  and  dishonor  of  our  foes!  The 
God  who  gave  his  only  begotten  Son  to  bring 
on  earth  peace  and  good  will  toward  men. 
No  creed  — in  these  days  when  two  and  two 
are  put  together  — can  stand  against  such 
reeling  subversion  of  the  foundation.  After 
this  monstrous  mocking,  beneath  this  grinning 
skull  of  irony,  how  shall  there  remain  faith 
in  a religion  preached  and  practiced  to  such 
ends?” 

Such  feelings  in  time  of  great  excitement 
are  natural  and  indeed  inevitable,  but  one 
must  be  careful,  when  under  the  strain  of 
powerful  feeling,  not  to  allow  himself  to  be 
swept  into  foolish  and  unjust  judgments. 
Wholesale  condemnations  are  always  wrong. 
Extreme  declarations  have  to  be  retracted. 
The  church  is  by  no  means  perfect,  but  we 
must  deal  with  her  fairly.  She  has  not  done 
everything,  but  we  must  give  her  credit  for 


The  Church  and  Peace  117 

what  she  has  done.  She  is  without  doubt  a 
sinner,  but  we  must,  if  truly  Christian,  be  the 
friend  of  publicans  and  sinners.  We  are  not 
to  condone  her  sin,  or  to  try  to  cover  up  her 
sin,  but  we  are  not  to  gloat  over  her  sin,  and 
by  our  refusal  to  give  sympathy  or  assistance 
push  her  down  into  still  deeper  sin.  The 
church,  like  the  home  and  the  state,  has  never 
done  all  that  she  could,  and  for  the  same 
reason.  All  three  institutions  are  heavily 
weighted  with  human  nature.  All  three  are 
made  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth,  and  when 
institutions  are  built  out  of  imperfect  human 
beings  you  cannot  expect  that  their  conduct 
shall  be  ideal.  They  will  fall  short  at  a hun- 
dred points,  but  since  God  is  patient  with  them 
we  must  be  patient  too.  We  do  not  make 
things  better  by  trampling  on  the  home,  or 
by  abolishing  the  state.  With  all  their  defects 
and  blunderings,  we  cannot  get  on  without 
them.  Neither  can  we  get  on  without  the 
church.  The  important  question  is:  How 
can  we  improve  it?  The  first  step  is  to  get 
into  cordial  and  sympathetic  relations  with  it, 


118  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

to  look  at  it  out  of  friendly  eyes,  to  take  note 
of  the  invaluable  service  which  it  has  rendered 
to  mankind.  From  the  beginning,  it  has 
waged  war  against  war,  even  though  it  has 
not  always  been  conscious  of  what  it  has  done, 
and  even  though  in  speech  it  has  at  times 
seemed  to  preach  the  gospel  of  Caesar.  The 
church  is  always  hostile  to  war,  no  matter 
what  the  preachers  say,  for  the  reason  that 
the  church  reads  to  the  people  the  Gospels, 
and  teaches  men  to  repeat  the  Lord’s  Prayer. 
It  is  impossible  to  train  human  beings  to  pray 
the  Lord’s  Prayer  without  working  against 
every  form  of  social  evil.  The  church  worked 
against  slavery  even  when  Christian  preachers 
defended  it.  It  is  impossible  to  preach  the 
parables  of  Jesus  and  unfold  his  cardinal  doc- 
trines without  hastening  the  day  when  slavery 
shall  be  no  more.  Christian  preachers  often 
build  better  than  they  know.  They  accom- 
plish ends  at  which  they  do  not  aim.  They 
bring  the  world  blessings  for  which  they  do 
not  ask.  The  ministers  of  Christ  have  often 
seen  but  dimly  the  implications  of  the  gospel 


The  Church  and  Peace  119 

they  proclaimed,  but  the  Holy  Spirit  taking 
the  words  of  Jesus,  interprets  them  to  the 
world’s  heart,  and  thus  in  spite  of  clerical  ig- 
norance and  stupidity  and  cowardice,  the  word 
of  the  Lord  runs  and  is  glorified.  It  is  not 
true  that  in  spite  of  all  that  has  been  said  in 
the  course  of  the  centuries,  war  has  been  con- 
tinued as  if  not  a word  had  been  spoken. 
There  is  not  so  much  fighting  now  as  there 
was  before  Jesus  came.  There  is  not  so  much 
as  there  was  a thousand  years  ago,  or  five  hun- 
dred years  ago.  It  was  once  difficult  for  the 
church  to  secure  a truce  even  for  two  or  three 
days  in  a week,  and  now  whole  years  and 
decades  elapse  in  which  great  nations  do  not 
unsheathe  the  sword.  History  tells  us  that 
there  have  been  seven  years’  wars,  and  thirty 
years’  wars,  and  even  a hundred  years’  war, 
but  to  us,  the  thought  of  a war  so  long  drawn 
out  is  intolerable.  Even  a war  six  months  long 
seems  to  us  interminable,  and  no  sooner  has 
it  begun  than  we  begin  to  ask  how  many 
weeks  it  is  going  to  continue.  War  is  ab- 
normal to  us,  upsetting,  depressing,  monstrous, 


120  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

why?  Because  we  have  breathed  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  Christian  church.  The  church 
has  not  yet  made  wars  impossible,  because  she 
has  not  yet  gotten  hold  of  the  hearts  of  po- 
tentates and  diplomats,  but  she  is  slowly  cre- 
ating a mood  and  a temper  in  the  hearts  of  the 
masses  of  the  people  which  will  some  day 
render  it  impossible  for  the  craziest  of  em- 
perors and  the  stupidest  of  statesmen  to  plunge 
nations  into  mutual  slaughter.  When  men 
ask  what  has  the  church  done,  let  us  reply 
that  it  has  so  sensitized  the  heart  that  it  cries 
out  in  horror  at  spectacles  which  centuries 
ago  excited  no  comment.  There  are  now  mil- 
lions of  human  beings  who  cannot  think  of 
war  except  with  a shudder,  and  every  new  tale 
of  butchery  only  deepens  in  them  a spirit  of 
indignation  and  protest  which  will  some  day 
bum  up  the  ancient  abomination.  It  is  this 
growing  spirit  of  implacable  opposition  to  war 
makers  and  their  trade  which  renders  the  abo- 
lition of  war  absolutely  certain.  The  time  is 
coming  when  men  will  not  endure  it.  It  is  the 
shudder  of  the  Christian  heart  which  will  by 


The  Church  and  Peace  121 

and  by  shatter  the  apparatus  of  war  to  pieces. 

What  wonderful  advances  the  world  has 
made,  and  the  Christian  church  has  helped  to 
make  them.  How  little  we  hear  nowadays 
about  military  glory.  The  chivalry  and  shim- 
mer of  warfare  have  well-nigh  disappeared. 
No  one  seems  to  exult  in  the  glorious  privi- 
lege of  killing  men.  The  foolish  talk  which 
continued  through  many  centuries,  of  war  be- 
ing a school  for  the  virtues,  has  been  laughed 
out  of  all  circles  which  are  not  hopelessly  be- 
nighted. To  the  modern  eye  war  is  horrible, 
hideous,  damnable,  and  the  reason  it  is  this, 
is  because  the  church  has  taught  the  world  to 
look  at  things  through  the  eyes  of  Jesus.  In 
the  olden  times  kings  offered  no  excuses  when 
they  went  to  war.  It  was  not  necessary  for 
them  to  justify  themselves  at  any  tribunal. 
No  one  asked  if  their  cause  was  right.  The 
only  concern  was  about  their  strength.  And 
now,  behold,  a whole  continent  of  rulers,  all 
holding  up  their  hands,  protesting  that  they 
are  not  responsible  for  this  war.  In  all  the 
circle  of  the  kings  there  is  not  one  who  dares 


122  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

stand  forth  and  say : “ I caused  this  war.  I 
wanted  it,  and  I worked  to  make  it  inevitable.” 
Every  man  of  them  declares  that  he  is  alto- 
gether innocent,  that  he  did  his  utmost  to  pre- 
serve the  peace,  and  that  the  sword  has  been 
forced  into  his  hands.  And  what  the  rulers 
say,  the  statesmen  are  all  repeating.  Not  one 
of  them  is  willing  to  confess  that  he  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  causing  this  frightful  confla- 
gration. Every  nation  is  fighting  solely  in 
self-defense.  Servia  is  fighting  for  her  life, 
and  so  is  Austria,  and  so  are  Russia,  Germany, 
France  and  Great  Britain.  We  have  been 
told  this  a dozen  times  by  leaders  in  all  these 
countries.  Every  diplomat  in  Europe  has  his 
hands  in  a basin  of  water,  declaring,  after  the 
fashion  of  Pontius  Pilate,  that  any  blood  shed 
must  rest  on  the  heads  of  other  men.  This 
is  an  extraordinary  phenomenon  in  human  his- 
tory. Nothing  like  it  has  ever  been  seen  be- 
fore. How  can  we  explain  it?  There  is  no 
explanation  except  that  the  Christian  church 
by  its  pictures  of  Jesus  and  the  Madonna,  and 
its  hymns  of  love,  and  its  prayers  for  the  Holy 


The  Church  and  Peace  123 

Spirit,  has  so  changed  the  natural  temper  of 
the  heart  thaFwhat  men  once  delighted  in  they 
now  abhor.  How  careful  statesmen  now  are 
in  drawing  distinctions  between  wars  of  ag- 
gression and  wars  of  defense.  They  all  con- 
demn the  former  and  defend  the  latter  only. 
Christian  nations  are  no  longer  willing  to  ap- 
propriate money  for  guns  to  be  used  in  attack- 
ing other  nations.  The  only  way  to  get  the 
money  is  to  avow  that  every  cent  of  it  shall 
be  spent  for  defense.  How  strange  such  talk 
would  have  seemed  to  Alexander  the  Great, 
and  to  Julius  Caesar.  How  unintelligible  to 
Attila  and  Tamerlane.  How  silly  to  Fred- 
erick the  Great,  and  how  preposterous  to  the 
great  Napoleon.  Why  this  carefulness  to  dis- 
criminate between  different  kinds  of  wars? 
Why  this  scrupulosity  about  entering  upon 
wars  of  aggression?  There  is  no  other  ex- 
planation than  this:  The  church  has  created 
a conscience,  a living  soul  under  the  ribs  of 
death. 

And  note  still  further  what  the  church  has 
done.  It  has  created  a heart  which  cannot  en- 


124  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

dure  sufferings  which  were  unalleviated  in  the 
wars  of  the  non-Christian  world.  The  Red 
Cross  is  one  of  the  creations  of  the  religion  of 
Jesus.  Such  an  organization  was  unknown  in 
the  pre-Christian  world.  The  church  has  not 
been  able  to  put  an  end  to  war,  but  it  has  cre- 
ated in  the  hearts  of  men  and  women  a mighty 
pity,  so  that  when  through  folly  and  wicked- 
ness war  is  precipitated,  a host  of  physicians 
and  nurses  spring  to  their  feet,  eager  to  care 
for  the  wounded  and  to  comfort  the  dying. 
In  the  very  hell  of  war  this  flower  of  paradise 
has  blossomed.  It  is  an  evidence  of  the  power 
of  Christ  to  keep  alive  the  sentiment  of  pity. 
The  church  cannot  yet  restrain  the  madness  of 
stupid  statesmen,  but  it  will  reduce  somewhat 
the  pain,  and  lighten  a little  the  horror  which 
war  inevitably  brings.  It  will  send  an  angel 
of  mercy  to  assuage  the  agony  of  an  experi- 
ence which  it  is  not  yet  able  to  prevent.  It 
has  not  done  everything,  but  it  has  done  some- 
thing. It  has  failed*  but  its  failure  is  not 
total. 

And,  moreover,  its  work  is  not  yet  com- 


The  Church  and  Peace  125 

pleted.  The  church  is  not...  old  yet,  as  God 
measures  time.  It  is  only  a child,  just  begin- 
ning to  learn  how  to  live  and  labor.  It  has 
had  many  things  to  do  in  the  last  two  mil- 
lenniums, more  things  than  could  be  completed 
in  so  short  a period.  Spiritual  processes  are 
slow.  You  cannot  secure  harvests  to-morrow 
or  next  week.  You  must  wait.  Sometimes 
you  must  wait  for  years,  sometimes  for  a 
generation,  sometimes  for  centuries,  some- 
times for  a thousand  years.  The  greater  the 
work  the  more  time  needed  for  the  accom- 
plishment. The  more  glorious  the  harvest, 
the  longer  you  must  wait  after  the  planting 
of  the  seed.  The  church  has  been  taunted 
from  the  beginning  by  impatient  critics  who 
have  demanded  that  every  needed  thing  should 
be  done  forthwith.  Never  has  the  world  been 
more  impatient  than  it  is  now.  The  inven- 
tions of  science  and  the  rapidity  of  material 
progress  have  begotten  in  our  generation  a 
fever  of  haste  which  renders  us  incapable  of 
trusting  ourselves  with  calm  hearts  to  the  slow 
and  long-drawn  processes  of  spiritual  evolu- 


126  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

tion.  Whatever  we  want  we  want  now.  If 
war  ought  to  cease,  then  why  not  stop  it  to- 
day? If  the  church  is  going  to  establish 
peace,  why  not  do  it  at  once?  The  answer  is 
easy.  The  church  cannot  do  things  at  once. 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  died  with  all  his  greatest 
projects  unfinished.  When  he  closed  his  eyes 
on  the  cross,  Jerusalem  was  unconverted,  Pal- 
istine  was  practically  untouched  by  his  gos- 
pel, and  the  great  outside  world  was  in  total 
ignorance  of  what  he  had  said  and  done. 
Civic  government  in  Jerusalem  was  as  sordid 
as  it  was  when  he  found  it,  slavery  was  as 
firmly  established  in  human  society  on  the  day 
of  his  death  as  on  the  day  of  his  birth,  the 
Roman  empire  was  as  rotten  after  his  prayers 
and  his  teachings  as  it  was  before  he  left  the 
little  carpenter  shop  in  Nazareth.  But  he  was 
not  at  all  daunted.  Lack  of  immediate  suc- 
cess did  not  discourage  him.  The  failure  of 
the  world  to  respond  did  not  quench  the  hope 
in  his  heart.  He  was  willing  to  wait  on  the. 
Lord.  He  had  confidence  in  the  vitality  of 
the  seed  he  had  planted.  He  believed  in  God 


The  Church  and  Peace 


127 


and  in  himself  and  in  man.  Even  with  all  the 
world  turning  against  him  he  dared  say : 
“ And  I,  if  I be  lifted  up  will  draw,  all  men 
unto  me.”  Love  cannot  conquer  in  a minute, 
but  love,  he  was  certain,  will  conquer  in  the 
end.  And  so  in  spite  of  opposition  and  re- 
ibuff  and  failure,  he  moved  toward  the  cross 
with  the  stride  of  a conqueror,  saying  to  his 
friends ; “ Be  of  good  cheer.  I have  over- 

come the  world.” 

It  is  in  this  spirit  that  we  must  approach  the 
Christian  church.  We  are  to  reverence  her 
for  what  she  is  going  to  do.  For  centuries 
she  has  planted  seed,  and  this  seed  was  not 
sown  in  vain.  It  will  some  day  bring  forth 
rich  harvests  to  God’s  glory.  There  have 
been  many  storms,  and  numberless  inclement 
seasons,  and  the  delays  have  been  long  and 
discouraging,  but  the  end  is  certain.  The 
church  was  founded  upon  a rock  and  the  gates 
of  Hades  shall  not  prevail  against  it.  War 
is  one  of  her  enemies,  and  over  war  as  over 
slavery,  and  many  another  savage  custom,  she 
will  ultimately  come  off  more  than  conqueror. 


128  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

When  men  rail  against  the  Christian 
church,  they  should  remember  that  she  is  not 
the  only  culprit  in  the  world.  Why  not  rail 
at  science?  For  three  generations  she  has 
been  the  world’s  most  conspicuous  miracle 
worker.  Like  a wizard  she  has  bewitcfied  the 
human  imagination.  She  has  filled  the  world 
with  the  fame  of  her  mighty  deeds.  Young 
men  have  gone  wild  over  her  splendid  ex- 
ploits, and  older  men  have  written  eulogies, 
proclaiming  that  science  will  be  the  future 
religion  of  the  world.  She  and  she  alone  has 
the  words  of  eternal  life,  and  to  her  all  com- 
ing generations  belong.  Such  has  been  the 
hallelujah  chorus  sounding  in  our  ears.  Why 
not,  then,  rail  at  science  for  not  preventing  this 
war?  Europe  is  rich  in  universities,  and  the 
universities  are  rich  in  scientists,  and  the  sci- 
entists are  rich  in  knowledge,  and  why  did  not 
the  scientists  of  Europe  apply  their  knowledge 
to  the  solution  of  the  difficult  problem  which 
Europe  laid  before  them?  If  science  is  indeed 
the  strongest  limbed  of  all  the  servants  of 
the  Almighty,  why  in  Europe’s  hour  of  peril 


The  Church  and  Peace  129 

did  she  not  put  out  her  arm,  and  save  the 
world  from  this  unspeakable  calamity?  Alas, 
science  was  impotent,  fully  as  impotent  as  the 
church,  and  if  religion  is  to  be  cudgeled  for 
being  weak  why  not  cudgel  science  also?  Is 
not  science  capable  of  engaging  in  an  enter- 
prise truly  great?  Cannot  science  perform  a 
herculean  labor?  Is  science  to  be  excused 
from  all  the  world’s  hardest  problems?  Is 
the  church  alone  to  be  counted  responsible  for 
rescue  when  the  fiercest  tempests  fall? 

When  it  is  said  that  the  church  has  more 
than  once  braced  men’s  hearts  for  battle  by  her 
songs  and  prayers,  it  can  be  said  in  reply  that 
science  has  ever  forged  the  weapons  with 
which  the  butchery  of  war  has  been  carried 
on.  War  to-day  is  more  terrible  than  it  has 
ever  been  before,  because  of  the  assistance 
which  science  has  rendered.  It  is  she  who  has 
created  the  aeroplane  and  the  explosive  bombs, 
the  howitzer  and  the  machine  guns,  the 
submarines  and  the  treacherous  torpedoes. 
Without  the  aid  of  science,  war  would  be  a 
feeble  and  comparatively  harmless  thing.  Sci- 


130  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

ence  has  given  war  a new  dimension.  It  once 
had  but  length  and  breadth,  and  science  has 
added  depth  and  height.  For  the  first  time  in 
history,  men  are  fighting  above  the  clouds  and 
beneath  the  sea.  A new  ferocity  has  been 
added  to  the  art  of  war  by  science.  Why  not 
rail  at  science,  and  trample  on  her  because  she 
has  rushed  to  the  assistance  of  men  starting 
off  to  battle ! 

But  where  shall  we  stop  if  we  once  begin 
to  apportion  the  blame  for  the  continuance  of 
war?  If  the  present  war  is  a disgrace  to  re- 
ligion, it  is  also  a disgrace  to  education.  Eu- 
rope has  had  for  centuries  great  educational 
establishments.  Her  faculties  contain  many 
of  the  wisest  men  in  the  world.  Her  philos- 
ophers are  so  famous  that  men  of  all  nations 
travel  to  Europe  to  sit  at  their  feet.  They 
have  mastered  the  knowledge  and  wisdom  of 
the  centuries.  They  know  the  best  that  has 
been  thought  and  said.  They  have  studied 
the  principles  of  life,  and  have  weighed  the 
lessons  of  human  experience.  Knowing  so 
much  of  the  past,  they  certainly  ought  to  know 


The  Church  and  Peace  131 

something  of  the  present,  and  at  least  a little 
of  the  future.  For  generations  wise  men 
have  been  instructing  the  young  men  of  Eu- 
rope. All  the  leading  statesmen  and  diplo- 
matists of  the  great  powers  have  been  taught 
by  men  of  vast  learning  and  genius.  And  yet 
education  has  failed.  Of  what  value  is  educa- 
tion if  it  does  not  fit  us  to  live?  Why  should 
we  covet  it,  if  it  does  not  tell  us  what  to  seek 
and  what  to  avoid?  If  education  cannot  save 
a continent  from  plunging  into  hell,  why 
should  we  tolerate  education  any  longer? 
Universities  and  colleges  are  useless  institu- 
tions, professors  are  mischievous  pedants  and 
idlers,  all  education  is  without  value,  because 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1914  ten  nations 
plunged  into  war!  Why  not  condemn  and 
despise  education? 

And  statesmanship  is  also  disgraced.  The 
Chancelleries  of  Europe  have  had  what  every- 
body supposed  were  the  shrewdest,  and  long- 
est headed,  and  most  brilliant  men  in  Europe. 
They  were  all  experts  in  the  art  of  diplomacy. 
It  was  their  business  to  know  not  only  their 


132  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

own  country,  but  also  all  the  other  countries 
with  which  their  nation  had  to  deal.  And  yet 
these  diplomatic  highbrows  were  so  stupid 
they  could  not  keep  Europe  from  entering  into 
a frenzy  in  which  they  are  burning  up  a large 
part  of  her  treasure.  If  you  should  take  out 
of  the  lunatic  asylums  of  Europe  a hundred 
of  the  most  brainless  of  the  imbeciles  found 
there,  and  place  the  governments  of  Europe 
in  their  hands,  they  could  not  get  the  world 
into  a more  deplorable  mess  than  that  in  which 
it  now  writhes.  Why  put  all  the  blame  on  the 
preachers  and  priests?  Why  not  rail  at  the 
statesmen,  the  diplomats,  the  cabinet  minis- 
ters, the  mighty  men  who  sit  in  the  seats  of 
power? 

If  you  persist  in  talking  about  the  disgrace 
of  the  church,  then  talk  about  the  disgrace  of 
reason.  If  faith  has  been  disgraced,  then  rea- 
son is  also  disgraced.  There  never  has  been 
a war  more  stupid  and  inexcusable  than  the 
one  which  is  now  raging,  and  there  was  not 
reason  enough  in  Europe  to  avoid  it,  and 
there  is  not  reason  enough  now  to  stop 


The  Church  and  Peace 


133 


it.  Reason  stands  before  the  world’s  judg- 
ment seat  branded  with  shame.  How  can  we 
say  after  this  war  that  man  is  a rational  crea- 
ture? Where  is  there  convincing  evidence  of 
his  rationality?  Is  he  not  a fit  candidate  for 
the  insane  asylum?  Why  not  confess  that 
common  sense  is  disgraced?  We  were  sup- 
posed to  have  great  stores  of  it,  where  will  you 
look  for  it  now?  When  all  institutions  are 
disgraced,  and  when  all  the  human  faculties 
have  been  weighed  in  the  balance  and  found 
wanting,  it  is  singular  that  so  many  persons 
should  single  out  the  church  as  the  only  culpa- 
ble institution,  and  religion  as  the  only  culprit 
deserving  castigation ! The  whole  world 
stands  condemned. 

But  while  we  may  freely  confess  that  or- 
ganized Christianity  has  not  met  its  responsi- 
bilities, and  deserves  stern  reprimand  and  cen- 
sure, we  must  be  careful  how  far  we  allow 
ourselves  or  others  to  go  in  passing  condem- 
nation on  the  Christian  religion.  The  religion 
of  Jesus  must  be  distinguished  from  the  or- 
ganization which  acts  as  its  custodian.  The 


134  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

Christian  religion  is  a heavenly  treasure,  but 
it  is  carried  in  an  earthen  vessel,  and  when 
the  vessel  develops  flaws  it  does  not  follow 
that  the  treasure  itself  is  faulty.  The  body 
may  be  flecked  and  stained,  while  the  indwell- 
ing spirit  remains  untarnished.  The  wit- 
nesses of  Christ  may  prove  unworthy,  while 
the  Master  himself  remains  faultless.  The 
institution  which  bears  his  name  may  fail, 
while  he  himself  continues  to  conquer.  We 
must  never  identify  Christianity  with  so-called 
Christian  civilization.  Because  Christian  na- 
tions go  astray  it  does  not  follow  that  Christ 
himself  has  failed  us.  There  are  no  Chris- 
tian nations.  There  is  no  Christian  civiliza- 
tion. We  use  such  terms  for  convenience,  in 
distinguishing  between  different  parts  of  the 
world.  We  call  one  civilization  Confucian, 
and  another  Mohammedan,  and  another  Chris- 
tian, after  the  name  of  the  religious  teacher 
who  has  made  the  deepest  impress  upon  that 
civilization.  But  no  civilization  has  ever 
been  Christian  in  the  sense  that  it  has  been 
dominated  by  the  spirit  of  Christ.  Christian 


The  Church  and  Peace  135 

civilization,  therefore,  may  fail  while  the  re- 
ligion of  Jesus  remains  undiscredited.  The 
so-called  Christian  nations  are  not  built  on 
Christian  principles,  nor  are  their  policies 
worked  out  with  an  eye  single  to  the  com- 
mands of  Christ.  A large  part  of  the  popula- 
tion in  every  so-called  Christian  nation  is  not 
deeply  influenced  by  the  Christian  spirit,  and 
in  no  part  of  a nation’s  life  is  the  spirit  of 
Christ  so  little  manifested  as  in  the  realm 
of  statesmanship.  The  rulers  and  legislators, 
even  when  baptized  into  the  name  of  Jesus, 
have  in  most  cases  declared  on  entering  the 
work  of  diplomacy,  “We  shall  not  have  this 
man  to  rule  over  us.”  Christian  nations, 
therefore,  may  crumble  and  fall,  while  the 
Christian  truth  remains  unshaken.  Christian 
nations  can  act  on  Pagan  principles  and  when 
they  do,  their  alleged  Christianity  does  not 
save  them.  He  that  sits  in  the  heavens  laughs. 
He  breaks  them  in  pieces  like  a potter’s  ves- 
sel, just  as  he  shattered  Nineveh  and  Babylon 
and  Rome.  Even  though  all  the  so-called 
Christian  nations  should,  like  the  Gadarene 


136  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

swine,  rush  down  a steep  place  and  plunge 
headlong  to  destruction,  there  would  be  no 
proof  of  any  defect  in  the  religion  of  Jesus, 
or  any  discrediting  of  the  declaration  that  he 
has  power  to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  who  put 
their  trust  in  him.  By  Christianity  is  meant 
the  spirit  and  teachings  of  Jesus,  and  who 
dare  say  that  these  have  failed?  When  has 
the  doctrine  of  the  fatherhood  of  God  been 
proved  absurd,  and  when  has  the  doctrine  of 
the  brotherhood  of  man  proved  pernicious? 
What  howitzer  has  shattered  the  great  com- 
mandment? What  shell  has  torn  to  shreds 
the  Golden  Rule?  The  Golden  Rule  is  golden 
still,  and  the  breath  of  the  hot  cannon’s  mouth 
will  never  tarnish  it.  The  new  commandment 
never  looked  so  lustrous  and  divine  as  it  looks 
when  viewed  through  the  rifts  of  the  smoke 
of  battle.  The  principles  of  kindness  and 
brotherliness  and  forgiveness  and  service  are 
principles  which  the  thunder  of  guns  has  not 
shaken.  The  war  has  only  illustrated  our  im- 
perious need  of  them,  and  their  everlasting  au- 
thority. Not  a jot  or  a tittle  of  the  Christian 


The  Church  and  Peace  1 37 

revelation  has  passed  away  since  the  great  war 
opened.  Not  one  truth  announced  by  Jesus 
has  been  undermined.  Never  before  has  the 
founder  of  Christianity  stood  forth  more  man- 
ifestly and  indisputably  the  one  fairest  among 
ten  thousand,  the  one  altogether  lovely.  He 
is  the  unique  and  incomparable  and  indispen- 
sable Christ.  We  now  realize  as  never  before 
that  he  has  the  words  of  eternal  life,  and  that 
nations  must  submit  to  him  or  be  broken  in 
pieces.  The  war  is  teaching  nothing  more 
emphatically  than  this:  that  men  cannot  be 
Christians  in  their  private  life  and  Pagans  in 
their  public  policies.  There  is  but  one  moral- 
ity for  nations  and  for  individuals,  and  that 
is  the  morality  of  Jesus.  He  is  the  Saviour  of 
the  individual  soul,  and  he  is  also  the  King  of 
kings  and  Lord  of  lords.  He  sits  on  the 
throne,  and  diplomats  and  rulers  must  submit 
to  him. 

Christianity  can  never  be  said  to  fail  until 
its  fundamental  teachings  are  proved  to  be 
untrue,  or  until  its  essential  principles  are 
demonstrated  to  be  unworkable.  If  what 


138  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

Christ  says  is  ever  proved  to  be  false  or  im- 
practicable, then  we  shall  admit  that  Chris- 
tianity has  failed.  But  the  war  has  not 
shown  the  falsity  of  one  of  his  sentences,  nor 
has  it  proved  that  his  principles  will  not  work. 
All  that  has  been  shown  by  the  war  is  that 
men  are  still  stubborn  and  hard  hearted,  and 
refuse  to  surrender  to  God’s  will.  The  hus- 
bandmen are  still  wicked,  and  the  heir  of  the 
vineyard  is  still  stoned.  In  that  sense  and  in 
that  only  can  it  be  said  that  Christianity  has 
failed.  It  has  not  succeeded  in  wooing  the 
hearts  of  the  world’s  rulers.  But  this  is  not 
the  fault  of  Christ,  it  is  the  sin  of  man.  God 
rules  the  world  on  the  principle  of  love.  Love 
uses  no  compulsion.  Love  will  not  break 
down  the  freedom  of  the  will.  Christ  says 
through  all  the  ages : “ Behold,  I stand  at  the 
door  and  knock : if  any  man  will  hear  my  voice 
and  open  the  door,  I will  come  in.”  Christ 
stands  still  outside  the  world’s  heart.  Chris- 
tianity is  the  religion  of  persuasion.  It  ap- 
peals, exhorts,  pleads.  It  leads.  It  will  not 
drive.  The  church  when  true  to  the  spirit  of 


The  Church  and  Peace  139 

the  Master  never  coerces.  It  uses  none  of  the 
instruments  of  compulsion.  It  beseeches,  and 
then  it  waits  and  hopes  and  keeps  on  loving. 
When  at  times  driven  by  the  fury  of  impa- 
tience, it  has  attempted  to  quicken  the  pace  of 
the  world,  it  has  lost  time,  and  retarded  human 
progress.  All  that  the  pulpit  can  do  is  to  say, 
“ Repent ! Seek  ye  first  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
Love  your  heavenly  Father  with  all  your  heart 
and  soul  and  mind  and  strength.  Love  your 
neighbor  as  yourself.  Look  upon  all  men  as 
your  brothers.  Let  the  mind  be  in  you  which 
was  also  in  Christ  Jesus.  I beseech  you  in 
Christ’s  name  be  reconciled  to  God.” 

This  is  what  the  church  is  already  saying. 
It  is  going  to  say  it  with  increased  urgency 
and  passion.  It  is  going  to  place  increasing 
emphasis  on  the  social  ideal.  It  is  going  to 
claim  boldly  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world 
for  Christ.  It  will  insist  now  as  it  has  never 
insisted  before  on  the  application  of  Christian 
principles  to  international  affairs.  It  has  had 
a revelation  of  the  horribleness  of  war  which 
will  never  be  forgotten.  Now  that  the  sword 


140  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

has  been  whetted  to  such  a murderous  edge, 
Christians  will  hear  more  distinctly  Christ’s 
great  words : “ Put  up  thy  sword.” 

War  is  going  to  be  hated  as  it  has  never 
been  hated  before.  We  know  better  now 
what  it  is.  The  pictures  of  the  fall  of  Ant- 
werp with  its  streaming  hosts  of  refugees, 
men,  women,  and  little  children,  the  aged,  the 
crippled  and  the  sick,  the  rich,  the  poor,  the 
high,  the  low,  all  huddled  together  in  one  vast 
mass  of  helplessness  and  misery,  pouring  out 
of  the  city  under  a sky  lit  up  by  bursting 
shells,  as  though  the  world  had  become  a blaz- 
ing and  heartbreaking  inferno,  that  picture 
has  been  etched  into  the  retina  of  the  world’s 
eye,  and  it  will  never  fade  out.  Thousands 
have  been  driven  finally  to  the  original  Quaker 
position — “War  everywhere  and  always  is 
absolutely  unjustifiable  and  criminal.”  Mil- 
lions of  others  have  been  confirmed  in  their 
conviction  that  war  is  never  again  to  be  re- 
sorted to  except  as  the  very  last  and  most  des- 
perate resort.  As  soon  as  war  is  made  the 
last  resort,  in  public  opinion  and  state  policy, 


The  Church  and  Peace  141 

it  will  never  be  reached  at  all.  The  church  is 
now  going  to  lead  in  a war  against  war.  Men 
are  everywhere  saying : “ This  must  be  the 

last  war.”  Men  can  make  it  the  last  if  they 
will.  The  church  could  have  ended  war  long 
ago.  It  did  not  do  it.  Let  us  hope  that  she 
will  now  put  her  hand  to  the  plow,  and  never 
again  look  back.  This  is  the  opportunity 
which  God  gives  the  church  to  prove  that  she 
possesses  a mission  from  heaven.  There 
have  been  three  historic  scourges : Famine, 
Pestilence  and  War.  The  first  two  have  been 
slain  by  science.  The  last  one,  science  cannot 
kill.  War  can  be  abolished  only  by  love.  Sci- 
ence has  no  control  of  the  heart.  To  create 
and  nourish  the  spirit  of  love  is  the  church’s 
distinctive  mission.  Other  demons  have  been 
cast  out  by  lower  means,  but  war,  the  chief  of 
the  world’s  devils,  can  be  exorcised  only  by 
love.  In  the  name  of  Christ,  the  church  is 
going  to  set  the  world  free. 

In  this  work  the  church  has  the  assistance 
of  numerous  agencies  and  forces  which  God 
has  created  to  hasten  the  accomplishment  of 


142  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

the  great  task.  Many  hearts  are  appalled  by 
the  strength  and  the  number  of  forces  arrayed 
against  us.  When  they  see  the  racial  antag- 
onisms, and  the  national  hatreds,  and  the  com- 
mercial rivalries,  and  the  mighty  hierarchy  of 
army  and  naval  officials  proud  of  their  titles 
and  eager  to  enhance  the  glory  of  the  great 
establishment  they  serve,  and  the  Vast  com- 
pany of  war  traders,  whose  profits  depend  on 
swollen  budgets  for  the  paraphernalia  of  war, 
and  the  vociferous  and  unscrupulous  host  of 
jingo  editors  and  statesmen,  and  the  great 
crowd  of  narrow  minded  and  selfish  hearted 
citizens  whose  patriotism  is  perverted  and 
whose  ideals  of  life  are  barbaric,  their  heart 
faints  within  them,  and  they  cry  out  in  dis- 
couragement — Who  is  sufficient  for  these 
things  ? But  the  forces  which  are  with  us  are 
mightier  than  those  which  are  against  us. 
We  have  first  of  all  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
Christian  ministers,  well  educated  and  set 
apart  as  leaders  of  their  congregations.  These 
men  have  access  to  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
millions  of  boys  and  girls  who  can  by  them  be 


The  Church  and  Peace  143 

trained  to  abhor  war.  They  have,  in  their 
possession,  the  ideals  of  the  perfect  man,  and 
the  matchless  words  of  one  who  spake  as 
never  man  spake,  and  every  word  is  a form  of 
power.  They  have  an  opportunity  given  to 
no  other  class  of  men  to  mould  the  spirit  of 
the  coming  generation,  and  they  are  going  to 
do  it.  But  other  organizations  are  on  our 
side,  and  other  men,  not  Christians,  are  with 
us.  The  Jews  are  with  us.  Philanthropists 
of  all  kinds  are  with  us,  and  so  are  the  artists, 
and  the  scholars,  and  so  are  the  mighty  forces 
of  education  and  commerce  and  finance  and 
industry.  The  wage  earners  of  the  world  are 
with  us.  Fatherhood  and  motherhood  are 
with  us.  Womanhood  is  with  us.  All  the 
noblest  instincts  of  the  human  heart  cry  out 
trumpet-tongued  against  the  settlement  of  in- 
ternational disputes  by  human  slaughter.  All 
the  best  men  are  with  us,  in  every  land,  and  all 
the  best  women,  and  all  the  little  children. 
With  such  cohorts  on  our  side,  how  is  it  pos- 
sible to  suffer  defeat?  All  that  is  needed  is 
that  the  church  shall  lead.  And  the  best  of 


144  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

all  is  that  God  is  with  us.  His  Spirit  is  on 
our  side.  The  universe  is  fighting  against  the 
men  who  believe  in  and  produce  war.  The 
stars  in  their  courses  fight  for  us.  If  the  God 
of  the  New  Testament  is  the  God  who  rules 
this  world,  then  every  sword  shall  some  day 
be  sheathed,  and  nations  shall  make  war  no 
more.  The  kingdom  of  God  is  righteousness 
and  peace  and  joy.  The  city  of  God  is  the 
city  of  love  and  light.  War  has  no  place  in 
a society  which  has  yielded  itself  to  a God  of 
love.  The  church  is  the  body  of  Christ.  It 
is  the  instrument  by  which  he  is  to  subdue 
all  things  unto  himself.  Every  minister  is  by 
his  ordination  a preacher  of  good  will.  “ How 
beautiful  on  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of 
him  that  bringeth  good  tidings,  that  publisheth 
peace.” 


IV 


Christianity  and  Militarism 

It  is  not  war  which  Christianity  in  the 
twentieth  century  is  called  to  expose  and  at- 
tack. The  enemies  of  war  are  legion.  Even 
military  chieftains  have  said  damaging  things 
about  it.  It  was  the  great  Napoleon  who  de- 
clared that  war  is  the  trade  of  barbarians,  and 
if  our  own  General  Sherman  did  not  assert 
that  war  is  hell,  he  called  it  something  else 
little  less  complimentary.  That  war  is  hor- 
rible and  brutal  and  savage,  all  the  world 
knows,  and  nearly  everybody  is  ready  to  ac- 
knowledge it.  In  a sense,  all  men  may  be 
said  to  be  in  favor  of  peace.  There  is  no  con- 
siderable body  of  confessed  eulogists  of  war 
in  any  section  of  the  civilized  world.  Even 
the  men  who  urge  huge  armies  and  navies  in- 
sist they  are  loyal  friends  of  peace. 

i45 


146  Christianity  and  International  Peace 


The  enemy  to  be  faced  and  conquered  in  our 
time  is  not  war,  but  militarism.  Militarism 
is  not  war,  but  it  is  something  out  of  which 
war  comes.  Nobody  espouses  destruction, 
but  many  go  in  at  the  wide  gate.  Militarism 
is  the  wide  gate.  Men  are  to  be  classified  not 
by  their  declared  attitude  to  war,  but  by  their 
attitude  to  militarism.  We  are  all  agreed  as 
to  the  beauty  of  peace  and  the  horror  of  war. 
It  is  only  on  militarism  that  men  differ. 

What  is  militarism  ? The  word  is  compara- 
tively new  in  our  American  vocabulary.  It 
is  necessary  to  define  it.  There  is  much  con- 
fusion in  many  minds  as  to  its  meaning,  and 
it  is  used  in  different  senses  by  different  per- 
sons. By  militarism  one  man  means  any  dis- 
play of  military  equipment  whatsoever.  A gun 
is  a militarist  invention.  A keg  of  powder  is 
another.  The  marching  of  a company  of  the 
state  militia  through  the  street  is  an  exhibition 
of  militarism. 

A second  man  means  by  militarism,  con- 
script armies  and  swollen  navies.  It  is  not 
until  you  get  enormous  numbers  of  guns  and 


Christianity  and  Militarism  14 7 

a desire  to  display  them,  that  you  know  what 
may  properly  be  called  militarism.  This  man 
would  not  admit  that  there  is  any  militarism 
in  the  United  States.  To  find  it  you  must  go 
to  Europe. 

A third  man  thinks  of  militarism  as  an  un- 
due exaltation  of  the  military  caste.  The  es- 
sence of  it  lies  not  in  mighty  armies  or  colos- 
sal navies,  but  in  the  subordination  of  the  civil 
to  the  military  power.  Thus  the  average 
Englishman  would  not  admit  that  there  is  any 
militarism  in  England,  because  in  the  first 
place,  the  English  army  is  in  time  of  peace 
comparatively  small,  and  in  the  second  place 
it  has  no  controlling  influence  over  the  policies 
of  the  government.  When  the  Englishman 
wants  to  see  militarism  he  goes  to  Prussia,  and 
in  the  prestige  and  power  of  the  military  class 
of  that  part  of  the  German  Empire,  he  finds 
the  genuine  article.  Militarism  is,  according 
to  an  Englishman,  made  in  Germany.  Many 
Americans  have  adopted  this  English  notion. 
We  hear  much  nowadays  of  German  mili- 
tarism, as  though  outside  of  Germany  no 


148  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

such  thing  was  in  existence.  Occasionally  a 
speaker  or  writer  ventures  to  refer  tc  French 
or  Russian  militarism,  but  the  average  Ameri- 
can does  not  feel  that  so  long  as  we  have  our 
present  diminutive  army,  and  a navy  that 
ranks  only  third  in  the  list  of  the  world’s 
navies,  that  the  United  States  can  be  justly 
charged  with  being  afflicted  by  the  militarist 
distemper.  Militarism  is  denounced  by  all 
classes  of  our  people.  It  may  be  doubted  if 
there  is  in  the  United  States  a man  of  reputa- 
tion who  would  publicly  confess  himself  to  be 
a militarist. 

If  by  militarism  we  mean  belligerency,  we 
certainly  are  not  a militaristic  people.  We  do 
not  hunger  and  thirst  after  war.  We  do  not 
easily  quarrel  with  our  neighbors.  Our  tem- 
per is  quite  pacific.  But  the  same  can  be  said 
of  all  the  peoples  in  Europe.  No  one  of  them 
has  a belligerent  disposition.  They  are  all  ami- 
able, quiet,  peace-loving  peoples.  .Militarism, 
then,  is  something  other  than  belligerency. 
Nor  is  militarism  simply  the  maintenance  of  a 
military  establishment.  If  we  are  to  measure 


Christianity  and  Militarism  149 

the  dimensions  of  militarism  in  a nation  by  the 
amount  of  money  expended  annually,  on  army 
and  navy,  then  the  United  States  is  pronounc- 
edly militaristic.  We  are,  if  judged  thus,  a 
more  militaristic  nation  in  one  respect  than 
Germany,  for  within  the  last  sixteen  years  we 
have  spent  over  four  hundred  million  dollars 
more  upon  our  navy  than  Germany  has  spent 
upon  hers  within  the  same  time.  An  in- 
genious German  by  figuring  out  the  per  capita 
cost  of  army  and  navy  in  the  various  coun- 
tries of  Europe,  has  demonstrated  that  Ger- 
many is  less  militaristic  than  any  of  her  more 
powerful  neighbors.  What  do  we  mean,  then, 
by  militarism?  When  does  a nation  become 
militaristic?  Who  is  a militarist? 

When  we  go  to  the  dictionary  for  light,  we 
read  that  militarism  is  “ the  political  condition 
characterized  by  the  predominance  of  the  mili- 
tary class  in  government  or  administration; 
the  tendency  to  regard  military  efficiency  as 
the  paramount  interest  of  the  state.”  There 
can  be  no  question  that  according  to  this  defi- 
nition, militarism  existed  in  more  than  one 


150  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

era  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  that  it  existed 
in  France  under  Napoleon  I,  and  since  mili- 
tary preparedness  has  long  been  the  preferred 
business  of  the  Prussian  state,  and  since  the 
military  class  holds  the  place  of  highest  honor 
there,  we  can  properly  say  that  militarism  ex- 
ists in  Germany.  But  does  militarism  exist 
nowhere  else?  Let  us  consult  the  dictionary 
again.  It  says  that  “ militarism  is  the  dispo- 
sition to  provide  for  the  strength  and  safety 
of  a nation  by  maintaining  strong  military 
forces.”  Great  Britain  then  must  be  counted 
among  the  militarist  nations,  for  she  has  for 
generations  counted  a mighty  fleet  essential 
to  her  national  welfare.  She  has  claimed  and 
exercised  the  right  of  maintaining  a navy 
equal  to  the  two  next  largest  navies  in  the 
world,  with  a certain  per  cent  added  to  place 
her  security  beyond  the  reach  of  doubt.  She 
has  assumed  that  the  great  nations  of  Europe 
are  her  foes,  and  that  they  would  cripple  her 
if  they  could.  By  means  of  her  navy  she  has 
extended  not  only  her  territory  but  her  power, 
and  some  of  her  greatest  writers  have  declared 


Christianity  and  Militarism  151 

that  her  fighting  ships  are  not  only  the  foun- 
dation of  her  wealth  and  influence,  but  the 
basis  also  of  her  very  life.  According  to  this 
definition  Great  Britain  is  a militant  nation 
and  ours  is  not.  But  the  dictionary  gives  us 
a still  wider  definition.  It  says,  “ Militarism 
is  the  spirit  and  temper  which  exalts  the  mili- 
tary virtues  and  ideals,  and  minimizes  the  de- 
fects of  military  training,  and  the  cost  of  war 
and  preparation  for  it.”  If  this  is  militarism, 
then  we  have  it  in  the  United  States.  There 
are  thousands  of  Americans  who  exalt  the 
military  ideals,  who  do  not  discern  the  defects 
of  military  training,  and  who  minimize  the 
cost  of  making  preparations  for  war. 

Militarism,  then,  in  the  widest  sense,  is  not 
peculiar  to  any  one  nation.  It  exists  in 
greater  or  less  measure  in  them  all.  Germany 
has  had  in  recent  years  the  largest  number  of 
militaristic  writers,  but  that  distinction  once 
belonged  to  France,  and  all  through  the  his- 
tory of  Great  Britain  she  has  had  poets  and 
prose  writers  who  have  extolled  the  military 
virtues,  and  joined  in  the  apotheosis  of  war. 


152  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

What  English  writers  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury would  you  place  above  Ruskin  and  Car- 
lyle ? It  was  Ruskin  who  said : “ All  the 

pure  and  noble  arts  of  peace  are  founded  on 
war.  There  is  no  great  art  possible  to  a na- 
tion, but  that  which  is  based  on  battle.”  And 
did  not  Carlyle  spend  the  ripest  years  of  his 
life  in  writing  a eulogistic  history  of  a mili- 
tary robber  and  conscienceless  liar  known 
as  Frederick  the  Great?  An  influential  sec- 
tion of  the  English  people  has  always  paid 
obeisance  to  the  god  of  war. 

Militarism  is  a disease  with  which  all  na- 
tions are  more  or  less  afflicted.  Individuals 
in  large  numbers  in  every  country  are  infected 
by  this  poison.  In  some  countries,  the  in- 
fected classes  are  larger  than  others ; in  a few 
countries  the  virus  flows  full  and  strong  in 
the  policy  of  the  state. 

Militarists  then  must  be  classified.  They 
are  not  all  of  the  same  school.  The  full 
grown  militarist  is  a man  who  believes  that 
war  is  inevitable,  that  it  will  never  be  out- 
grown, and  besides  being  inevitable,  it  must 


Christianity  and  Militarism  153 

be  counted  a blessing.  It  is  one  of  the  things 
which  the  Almighty  has  provided  for  man’s 
good.  Without  it  humanity  would  become 
stagnant,  and  the  moral  fiber  of  nations  would 
rot.  Since  war  is  inevitable  and  a means  of 
human  development,  then  a nation’s  first  busi- 
ness is  to  prepare  for  it.  The  preparation 
must  be  conscientious  and  thorough.  Nations 
come  to  judgment  on  the  field  of  battle.  It  is 
there  that  God  decides  which  are  fit  to  live 
and  which  must  perish.  War  is  a biological 
necessity.  The  warrior  class  constitutes  the 
highest  caste  in  the  state.  Since  the  men  who 
use  guns  hold  the  chief  place  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  world,  they  are  to  be  held  in  ex- 
ceptional honor.  Among  men  of  power  they 
stand  first,  and  to  them  must  be  given  the 
first  place  in  the  hearts  of  their  countrymen. 
This  was  the  teaching  of  Treitschke.  He 
said : “ God  will  see  to  it  that  war  always  re- 
curs as  a drastic  medicine  for  the  human  race.” 
It  was  the  conviction  of  Von  Moltke.  He 
said : “ Perpetual  peace  is  a dream,  and  not 
even  a beautiful  dream.  But  war  is  a link  in 


154  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

the  divine  system  of  the  universe.”  The  mili- 
taristic philosophy  has  received  its  classic  ex- 
pression at  the  hands  of  General  von  Bem- 
hardi.  No  writer  in  any  country  has  ever 
stated  the  militarist  position  more  clearly  or 
with  greater  force.  He  boldly  asserts  that 
“ war  is  the  greatest  factor  in  the  furtherance 
of  culture  and  power,  a regulative  element  in 
the  life  of  mankind  which  cannot  be  dispensed 
with.  Without  it  a universal  decadence 
would  follow.  Conquest  is  a law  of  neces- 
sity. The  instinct  of  self  preservation  leads 
inevitably  to  war  and  the  conquest  of  foreign 
soil.” 

But  not  all  militarists  belong  to  this  ex- 
treme school.  Many  of  them  look  upon  war 
as  an  evil.  It  is  a scourge  to  be.  dreaded.  It 
is  a cataclysm  to  be  lamented.  But  it  is  im- 
possible at  all  times  to  avoid  it.  It  is  a dark 
feature  of  the  experience  of  a disordered 
world.  As  men  are  constituted,  war  is  in- 
evitable, and  since  wars  are  sure  to  recur,  we 
must  prepare  for  them.  The  preparation 
must  be  constant  and  efficacious.  Military  ef- 


Christianity  and  Militarism  155 

ficiency  is  one  of  a nation’s  most  valuable  as- 
sets. By  this  efficiency  she  increases  her 
power  for  good  in  the  world.  By  dominating 
either  the  land  or  the  sea  or  both,  she  renders 
a service  to  humanity.  By  the  influence  of 
guns  she  may  become  God’s  ordained  peace- 
maker among  the  nations.  Armed  peace  is 
the  ideal,  and  the  people  which  contributes 
most  generously  to  the  maintenance  of  its 
armament  is  the  people  which  will  do  most 
in  the  long  run  to  ward  off  the  dread  affliction 
of  war.  We  have  few  Bernhardis,  but 
numerous  militarists  of  the  second  grade. 

Many  militarists,  however,  refuse  to  go  so 
far  as  this.  They  hate  war,  and  they  are  not 
in  love  with  armed  peace.  Nevertheless  mili- 
tary preparedness,  they  think,  is  a national 
duty.  Nations  must  arm  not  to  extend  their 
power,  but  solely  in  self  defense.  A nation 
must  fulfill  its  political  obligations,  and  how 
can  it  do  this  without  a sufficient  supply  of 
guns?  Military  discipline  is  on  the  whole 
salutary.  The  drill  which  is  given  in  the 
army  and  navy  contributes  to  physical  health. 


156  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

It  builds  up  a manly  carriage.  It  is  also  a 
factor  in  moral  education.  It  teaches  young 
men  orderliness,  and  precision,  and  method, 
and  best  of  all  it  trains  them  in  obedience  to 
authority.  Before  they  enter  the  service  they 
are  slovenly  and  uncouth,  they  come  out  neat 
and  self  respecting,  erect  and  obedient  to  su- 
periors. Military  and  naval  establishments 
are  therefore  worth  all  they  cost.  They  are 
schools  for  educating  the  youth  of  the  nation. 
They  are  seminaries  for  the  inculcation  of 
patriotism.  They  fit  men  for  serving  their 
country  on  the  battlefield,  should  the  nation 
be  overtaken  by  the  maelstrom  of  war.  The 
boys  of  a nation  should  be  trained  to  shoot. 
Target  practice  should  have  a place  in  the 
curriculum  of  the  public  school.  Colleges 
should  be  centers  for  military  training.  A 
soldier  nation  is  the  ideal  toward  which  we 
should  strive.  This  is  the  type  of  militarist 
with  whom  we  have  to  deal  in  this  country. 

All  militarists  then,  however  they  may 
differ  in  details,  agree  on  the  exaltation  of 
physical  force.  To  a militarist  the  supreme 


Christianity  and  Militarism  157 

national  defense  lies  in  material  fortifications. 
Military  power,  he  thinks,  is  supreme  over 
all  other  forms  of  power.  Military  considera- 
tions are  more  weighty  than  all  other  con- 
siderations. The  ultimate  dependence  of  a 
nation  must  be  upon  its  military  strength. 

Militarism  may  be  defined,  then,  as  being, 
first  of  all,  a disposition,  a temper,  a spirit, 
a state  of  mind.  It  is  a disposition  to  rely 
on  physical  forces,  to  magnify  the  importance 
of  military  equipment,  a spirit  of  distrust  in 
the  power  of  ideas  and  ideals,  of  character 
and  example,  a state  of  mind  in  which  one 
feels  his  nation  to  be  in  danger  unless  barri- 
caded behind  lines  of  bayonets  and  guns. 

When  this  spirit  works  itself  out  into  ar- 
ticulate expression,  its  creed  runs  somewhat 
as  follows:  “ All  life  is  foundationed  on 
force.  A nation  is  strong  in  proportion  to  its 
military  defenses.  Its  prestige  is  to  be  com- 
puted in  terms  of  naval  tonnage.  Its  rank  in 
the  family  of  nations  is  fixed  by  the  size  of 
its  army  and  fleet.  Its  dignity  and  influence 
are  determined  by  the  number  and  caliber  of 


158  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

its  guns.  Its  diplomats  are  forceful  in  in- 
ternational councils  according  to  the  number 
of  bayonets  behind  them.  It  is  absolutely  at 
the  mercy  of  any  nation  which  possesses 
a completer  military  apparatus.  National 
power  is  best  symbolized  by  cannon.  Prac- 
ticing military  maneuvers,  preparing  oneself 
to  follow  the  flag  to  the  battlefield  is  the 
surest  evidence  of  exalted  patriotism.” 

Out  of  the  spirit  comes  a creed,  and  out  of 
the  creed  come  institutions  — the  army  and 
the  navy.  These  are  visible,  and  therefore 
first  catch  the  eye  of  the  average  man.  To 
him  they  constitute  what  the  world  calls  mili- 
tarism. If  they  are  colossal,  he  concludes 
that  militarism  is  far  advanced,  if  they  are 
small,  he  decides  that  militarism  is  either  non- 
existent or  as  yet  in  the  bud.  He  does  not 
realize  that  “ out  of  thought’s  interior  sphere 
these  wonders  rose  to  upper  air.”  Armies 
and  navies  are  but  exhalations  rising  from 
the  surface  of  a state  of  mind.  The  vast 
armaments  of  the  Christian  world  are  tangible 
expressions  of  its  materialism.  They  are  in- 


Christianity  and  Militarism  159 

carnations  of  its  appalling  unbelief.  Ma- 
terialism has  expressed  itself  in  many  forms, 
and  militarism  is  its  crowning  and  most  amaz- 
ing expression.  The  military  equipment  of 
the  Christian  world  is  its  confession  of  un- 
belief in  the  potency  of  spiritual  forces.  A 
continent  that  weights  itself  with  guns  is 
really  atheistic.  It  says  by  its  action  — no 
matter  what  it  says  with  its  tongue  — there  is 
no  God,  or  if  there  is,  he  is  Baal. 

When,  therefore,  we  come  to  grapple  with 
militarism,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  we 
are  wrestling  not  against  soldiers  and  sailors, 
but  against  the  principalities,  against  the  pow- 
ers, against  the  world  rulers  of  this  darkness, 
against  the  spiritual  hosts  of  wickedness  in 
the  heavenly  places.  The  spirit  of  evil  pre- 
sents itself  to  our  generation  in  its  most 
formidable  and  most  seductive  incarnation,  in 
that  huge  social  phenomenon  known  as  mili- 
tarism. It  is  the  greatest  enemy  of  mankind 
which  has  thrown  itself  across  the  path  of  the 
world’s  forward  march,  since  Martin  Luther 
shattered  the  power  of  the  mediaeval  priest- 


160  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

hood.  It  is  the  most  venomous  and  slimy 
reptile  which  has  wound  itself  around  the 
body  of  mankind  since  the  serpent,  slavery, 
was  strangled.  Like  a modern  Laocoon,  the 
world  writhes  and  groans  in  the  crushing  folds 
of  this  pitiless  monster,  and  no  one  strong  to 
save  has  yet  appeared. 

Pause  a moment  and  glance  at  Europe  as  it 
was  in  the  middle  of  July,  1914:  The  whole 
continent  was  at  peace,  and  what  a peace ! 
It  was  an  armed  peace,  the  only  kind  of  peace 
which  militarism  provides.  Europe  is  nomi- 
nally Christian.  She  is  covered  with  cathe- 
drals, but  round  her  cathedrals  there  gleams 
the  steel  of  her  guns.  She  prays  to  a God  of 
love,  but  through  her  streets  continually  there 
march  battalions  of  armed  men.  She  exalts 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  to  the  right  hand  of  God, 
but  she  trains  her  young  men  to  fight  sham 
battles  outside  the  gates  of  all  her  cities.  The 
land  is  covered  with  soldiers.  Every  soldier 
is  drilling  that  he  may  become  more  expert 
in  the  taking  of  human  life.  And  now  look 
at  the  sea.  It  is  covered  with  strange  looking 


Christianity  and  Militarism  161 

vessels.  What  are  they?  They  are  dread- 
noughts, and  pre-dreadnoughts,  and  super- 
dreadnoughts, and  scout  cruisers,  and  ar- 
mored cruisers,  and  torpedo  boats,  and  tor- 
pedo boat  destroyers,  and  submarines.  They 
are  filled  with  young  men  engaged  in  mock 
battles,  getting  ready  for  the  day  when  in  real 
battle  they  will  send  thousands  of  their  fellow 
beings  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  And  now 
look  into  the  air,  another  fleet,  a navy  of  air 
ships,  what  are  they  doing?  Men  in  them  are 
practicing  the  art  of  dropping  explosives,  so 
that  when  the  next  war  comes,  bombs  can 
be  dropped  successfully  on  women  in  their 
beds,  and  little  children  in  their  cradles.  And 
all  this  in  Christian  Europe,  in  the  continent 
which  has  longest  known  of  the  life  that  was 
lived  in  Galilee.  All  this  in  a time  of  peace, 
when  the  masses  of  men  and  women  desired 
nothing  so  much  as  to  be  allowed  to  pursue 
their  work  unmolested.  Men  on  the  land, 
men  on  the  water,  men  in  the  air,  all  drilling 
that  they  might  be  ready  for  the  next  war. 
Who  set  them  to  doing  this?  Militarists  — 


162  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

three  classes  of  them  — first,  men  who  were 
believers  in  war,  and  second,  men  who  hated 
war  but  believed  in  armed  peace,  and  third, 
men  who  lamented  the  expensiveness  of  armed 
peace,  but  who  believed  it  to  be  wise  to  train 
each  new  generation  of  boys  to  shoot.  And 
all  this  nineteen  hundred  years  after  Jesus 
died  on  the  cross ! 

And  so,  for  decades,  Europe  has  been  the 
scandal  and  shame  of  the  world.  She  has  re- 
tarded the  progress  of  Christianity  in  every 
part  of  the  non-Christian  world.  The  oriental 
eye  caught  the  gleam  of  her  bayonets  before 
it  caught  the  glimmer  of  her  church  spires, 
and  when  the  East  sent  West  for  helpers,  it 
was  not  for  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  but  for 
generals  and  admirals  who  might  teach  the 
boys  of  Asia  how  best  to  destroy  human  life. 

It  is  needless  to  dwell  upon  the  unspeak- 
able tragedy.  We  call  the  war  tragic,  and  so 
it  is,  but  Europe  has  known  nothing  but 
tragedy  for  many  a year.  Is  it  not  tragic  to 
see  Christian  nations  squandering  their  treas- 
ure in  implements  of  blood,  while  millions  of 


Christianity  and  Militarism  163 

their  people  toil  in  poverty,  denied  all  the 
luxuries  and  many  of  them  even  the  neces- 
saries of  life?  Is  it  not  tragic  when  nations 
spend  on  guns  what  they  ought  to  spend 
on  the  education  of  their  people?  Is  it 
not  tragic  when  government  deliberately 
puts  a soldier  on  the  back  of  every  peas- 
ant, and  compels  him  to  carry  that  sol- 
dier until  his  strength  fails,  and  he  falls  into 
the  grave?  Is  it  not  tragic  to  see  so-called 
Christian  statesmen  turning  each  year  the 
screws  of  taxation  a little  tighter,  rolling  up 
the  national  debt  a little  larger,  not  because 
humanitarian  projects  are  being  carried  for- 
ward, but  solely  because  it  is  deemed  neces- 
sary to  lay  in  a still  larger  stock  of  ammunition 
and  guns  ? Is  it  not  tragic  that  the  two  lead- 
ing Christian  nations  of  the  world  have  for 
many  years  been  running  a race  in  naval  ex- 
pansion, and  that  other  nations,  including  our 
own,  have  endeavored  to  keep  up  with  the 
procession  ? Is  it  not  tragic  to  hear  men  who 
profess  allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ  talking 
about,  “ dominion,”  “ control,”  “ domination,” 


164  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

words  which  the  Son  of  God  never  used,  and 
against  whose  use  he  uttered  solemn  warn- 
ings? Did  he  not  say:  “Ye  know  that  the 
princes  of  the  nations  exercise  dominion  over 
them,  and  they  that  are  great  exercise  au- 
thority upon  them?  But  it  shall  not  be  so 
among  you,  but  whosoever  will  be  great  among 
you,  let  him  be  your  minister,  and  whosoever 
will  be  chief  among  you,  let  him  be  your  serv- 
ant.” Will  not  that  command  remain  after 
the  sun  has  gone  out,  and  the  heavens  have 
been  rolled  together  as  a scroll?  What  rob- 
beries there  have  been  both  in  Asia  and  in 
Africa,  the  robber  in'  every  case  carrying  off 
his  booty  because  he  was  supplied  with  guns. 
And  what  diabolical  talk  there  has  been,  talk 
of  “ blood  and  iron,”  and  “ shining  armor  ” 
and  “ rattling  sabers,”  and  “ bleeding  a nation 
white,”  and  “ beating  a nation  to  her  knees,” 
and  “ crushing  a nation  so  that  never  again 
would  she  cross  her  neighbor’s  path.”  All 
this  in  Christian  Europe!  How  different  it 
sounds  from  those  words  repeated  long  ago, 
and  which  are  law  for  all  the  nations  to  the 


Christianity  and  Militarism  165 

end  of  time : “ Love  your  enemies.  Bless 
them  that  curse  you,  do  good  to  them  that 
hate  you,  and  pray  for  them  that  despite  fully 
use  you.”  Over  the  whole  history  of  mod- 
ern Europe  you  may  write  the  word  tragedy. 
The  war  is  only  another  chapter  of  a dolorous 
story,  a little  more  pathetic  and  heart  break- 
ing than  the  chapter  that  preceded  it.  No 
continent  can  write  the  first  chapter  without 
being  compelled  to  go  on  and  write  the  second. 
Nations  which  sow  bayonets  reap  battles. 
Peoples  who  prepare  for  fighting  come  to 
blows.  Kings  who  revel  in  guns  fill  their 
land  with  graves. 

Militarism  is  the  root  cause  of  the  great 
war.  The  war  was  precipitated  by  small 
cliques  of  blind  and  narrow-headed  men  who 
were  educated  in  the  camp  of  Caesar.  The 
generals  and  admirals  were  packed  close 
around  the  thrones  of  Austria  and  Germany 
and  Russia,  and  the  war  was  declared  by  men 
who  have  eyes  for  nothing  but  military  neces- 
sities. It  is  these  men  and  men  like  them  in 
France  and  Great  Britain  who  have  dragged 


166  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

Europe  to  perdition.  It  is  because  of  them 
that  European  diplomacy  has  long  been  noth- 
ing but  a cover  for  robbery.  Reputable  states- 
men skulk  in  the  dark,  making  alliances  and 
ententes  which  they  do  not  dare  to  explain  to 
the  people.  The  habits  of  many  of  the 
diplomats  of  Europe  have  long  been  the 
habits  of  bandits  and  cut-throats.  No  wonder 
God  said  at  last : “ The  measure  of  your  in- 

iquity is  full.”  The  war  is  heaven’s  retribu- 
tion on  Europe’s  sins. 

Militarism,  or  the  trust  in  physical  force, 
always  works  by  means  of  fear,  and  fear  has 
torments.  Militarism  begins  with  a false  as- 
sumption. It  says  to  nations:  “You  are 
natural  enemies  of  one  another,  and  being 
enemies,  you  ought  to  distrust  and  suspect 
one  another.”  That  is  the  greatest  lie  the 
devil  has  told  since  he  lied  to  the  first  man 
in  Eden.  “ Since  you  cannot  trust  one  an- 
other, you  must  arm  yourselves  against  one 
another,  and  the  more  complete  your  equip- 
ment the  more  likely  you  are  to  escape  harm.” 
And  thus  the  arming  began.  One  nation 


Christianity  and  Militarism  167 

armed,  and  its  neighbor  immediately  followed 
its  example,  other  neighbors  in  turn  coming 
soon  after  into  the  same  demoralizing  game. 
It  was  thus  that  all  Europe  became  in  time 
an  armed  camp.  Each  nation  strove  for  the 
highest  possible  efficiency.  Each  was  fearful 
that  some  other  nation  might  get  the  advantage 
of  it.  Slight  suspicions  led  to  fears,  and  out 
of  the  fears  came  a system  of  espionage  whose 
blighting  and  defiling  touch  has  been  on  all 
European  life.  Nations  became  feverishly 
anxious  to  know  what  their  neighbors  were 
doing.  When  we  measure  ourselves  against 
others  by  the  standards  of  physical  force,  it 
is  important  that  we  should  know  the  nature 
of  the  latest  explosive  and  the  caliber  of  the 
very  last  gun.  Europe  has  swarmed  for  years 
with  spies,  and  the  spies  created  fresh  rumors 
and  additional  alarms.  Once  terrorized,  the 
nations  became  still  more  zealous  in  making 
their  salvation  sure.  They  increased  their 
battalions,  they  added  more  ships  of  war. 
They  began  to  spy  on  one  another  from  Zep- 
pelins and  aeroplanes.  They  became  increas- 


168  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

ingly  nervous,  agitated,  excited.  Now  and 
then  they  fell  into  a sort  of  hysteria.  They 
were  harassed  by  hallucinations.  They  were 
tortured  by  imaginary  goblins  and  monsters. 
At  last  they  came  to  have  all  the  symptoms  of 
insanity.  They  agonized  in  a kind  of  delirium 
tremens.  More  than  once  within  the  last  ten 
years  England  has  been  crazy.  So  also  has 
France.  So  also  has  Germany.  It  is  a sin- 
gular fact  that  the  nations  most  heavily  armed 
are  the  ones  which  suffer  most  from  this  ex- 
hausting delirium.  Germany  especially  be- 
came so  excitable  that  she  peopled  the  world 
with  specters.  It  was  the  Kaiser  who  coined 
the  phrase:  “The  Yellow  Peril.”  The  Ger- 
man General  Staff  always  saw  Germany  girt 
with  a ring  of  foes.  On  the  first  of  August 
Germany  was  so  beside  herself  she  could  not 
wait  until  Russia  declared  war  on  her,  she  was 
so  wild  that  she  could  not  wait  even  to  keep 
her  treaty  obligations  with  Belgium.  It  all 
seems  so  strange  to  us  who  are  on  the  outside, 
for  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  Germany,  with 
her  magnificent  army,  should  have  been  so 


Christianity  and  Militarism  169 

frightened  by  her  alleged  enemies,  and  why 
with  all  her  wonderful  siege  guns  and  her 
matchless  submarines,  and  her  astounding 
Zeppelins,  and  her  intrepid  battalions  she 
should  feel  it  necessary  to  run  the  risk  of  los- 
ing Italy’s  help  by  declaring  war  on  Russia, 
and  England’s  neutrality  by  invading  Belgium. 
There  is  no  explanation  of  her  conduct  except 
that  she  was  driven  forward  by  a blind  and 
irrational  fear.  The  war  was  precipitated  by 
an  abnormal  reaction  of  the  German  mind  to 
a situation  which  she  had  done  more  than 
anybody  else  to  create.  It  is  fear  then 
that  has  created  the  entanglements  out  of 
which  the  war  of  ten  nations  developed. 
Fear  was  the  cause  of  the  dual  alliance,  and 
fear  was  responsible  for  the  triple  alliance, 
and  fear  was  also  the  father  of  the  triple 
entente.  The  present  war  is,  as  the  Crown 
Prince  of  Germany  says,  utterly  stupid  and 
inexcusable.  The  nations  are  fighting  simply 
because  they  are  afraid  of  one  another. 
They  became  afraid  of  one  another  because 
they  were  all  armed  to  the  teeth.  When  na- 


170  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

tions  are  liberally  supplied  with  42-centimeter 
howitzers,  and  rapid-firing  machine  guns,  and 
ubiquitous  submarines,  and  bomb  dropping 
aeroplanes,  they  do  well  to  be  afraid  of  one 
another.  Fear  hath  torments.  Fear  is  hell. 
Love  only  can  cast  out  fear,  and  love  is  a word 
which  militarism  does  not  know.  Militarism 
understands  compulsion,  not  persuasion ; co- 
ercion, not  wooing;  crushing,  not  affection; 
Csesar,  not  Christ.  Militarism  has  brought 
Europe  into  the  abyss,  the  question  now  is, 
will  the  new  world  take  warning  from  the  old, 
or  will  the  new  world  pattern  after  the  ex- 
ample of  the  old,  and  rush  by  and  by  to  a 
similar  destruction?  Every  nation  which  sur- 
renders to  militarism  is  doomed. 

Is  there  any  danger  that  the  United  States 
may  ever  suffer  from  the  blight  of  militarism? 
The  usual  answer  is,  “ No.”  A member  of 
the  Cabinet  said  the  other  day:  “No  reason- 
able person  in  this  country  has  the  slightest 
shadow  of  fear  of  military  despotism,  nor  of 
any  interference  whatever  by  military  force 
in  the  conduct  of  civil  affairs.”  This  is  no 


Christianity  and  Militarism  171 

doubt  the  general  feeling.  “ Look  at  our  lit- 
tle army,”  men  say,  “ and  look  at  our  third 
rate  navy,  and  note  the  temper  of  our  people ! 
Our  republic  is  in  no  danger  of  becoming  in- 
fected by  the  militarist  bacillus.  Our  great- 
est men  have  all  abhorred  war.  Our  greatest 
general  said : ‘ Let  us  have  peace.’  The  tra- 

ditions of  the  country  are  all  for  peace.  Why 
should  any  one  be  alarmed  ? ” 

But  there  are  certain  facts  which  ought  not 
to  be  blinked.  The  world  is  to-day  organi- 
cally one.  All  the  nations  are  united.  It  is 
impossible  for  any  one  of  them  to  be  afflicted 
with  any  disease,  without  all  of  the  rest  of 
them  taking  in  more  or  less  of  the  poison. 
Nations,  like  children,  catch  diseases  by  being 
thrown  in  with  those  who  are  sick.  When 
contagion  is  in  the  air,  and  all  nations  are 
exposed  to  breezes  which  blow  round  the 
world,  it  is  not  wise  to  be  too  certain  that  a 
European  fever  might  not  also  some  day  burn 
in  our  own  blood. 

It  is  true  that  our  army  and  navy  are  not 
at  all  likely  to  interfere,  openly,  to-day  or  to- 


172  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

morrow,  in  the  conduct  of  civil  affairs,  but 
they  certainly  have  more  influence  on  na- 
tional policy  than  they  had  forty  years  ago, 
and  the  number  of  Americans  who  make  a 
fetish  of  military  preparedness  is  growing 
year  by  year.  The  expansion  of  the  United 
States  navy  within  the  last  thirty  years  is  one 
of  the  outstanding  phenomena  of  our  history. 
In  1881  our  navy  cost  us  only  $13,000,000.  In 
1891  it  cost  us  only  $22,000,000.  In  the  next 
ten  years  the  cost  went  up  to  $56,000,000.  By 
19 1 1 it  had  reached  $121,000,000.  Two  years 
later  it  had  mounted  to  $146,000,000.  And 
this  year  the  government  is  asking  for  $148- 
589,786.  But  according  to  the  plans  of  the 
Naval  Board  our  navy  is  yet  but  a baby. 
Every  naval  expert  confesses  that  it  is  totally 
inadequate  to  our  needs.  We  have  only  fif- 
teen dreadnoughts,  whereas  we  must  have  at 
the  lowest,  forty-eight,  and  one  rear-admiral 
has  suggested  that  we  ought  to  have  eighty. 
The  navy  has  been  pushed  ahead  rather  than 
the  army  because  of  our  extensive  coastline, 
and  because  of  the  example  of  Great  Britain 


Christianity  and  Militarism  1 73 

and  Germany,  and  also  because  it  is  easier 
to  show  off  a navy  than  it  is  to  show  off  an 
army.  It  is  impossible  to  bring  the  army  to 
New  York  City  every  year,  whereas  it  is  easy 
to  exhibit  the  navy  in  the  Hudson  River, 
where  the  New  York  reporters  can  see  it,  and 
blow  its  praises  across  the  continent.  But  the 
army  is  not  without  its  ambitions  and  hopes. 
It  expects  to  expand  later  on.  The  military 
experts  have  told  us  a thousand  times  that  our 
present  army  is  scandalously  insignificant,  and 
must  be  multiplied  by  two  or  three,  and  later 
on  by  five.  The  general  staff  worked  out 
plans  three  years  ago  for  an  army  of  500,000. 
Last  year  the  army  cost  us  $94,000,000.  Next 
year  it  is  to  cost  us  $106,000,000.  And  this 
does  not  include  the  cost  of  fortifications  and 
other  things  which  an  army  must  have.  So 
that  to-day  we  are  spending  over  $250,000,000 
a year  for  military  purposes,  far  more  than 
we  are  spending  for  anything  else.  Did  you 
notice  the  items  in  the  national  budget  re- 
cently laid  before  Congress.  We  are  asked 
to  spend  this  next  year: 


174  Christianity  and  International  Peace 


On  our  Judicial  Establishment $ 1,240,000 

On  Foreign  Intercourse 4,607,000 

On  the  Legislative  Establishment 7,641,000 

On  Indian  Affairs 9>533>ooo 

On  the  Panama  Canal 19,000,000 

On  the  Department  of  Agriculture 20,706,000 

On  the  Executive  Establishment 31,846,000 


Or  a total  of $94,573,000 


Not  so  much  on  seven  great  departments 
of  our  government  as  on  our  army  establish- 
ment alone.  And  if  to  the  army  appropria- 
tion you  add  that  for  the  navy,  you  use  up  a 
considerable  part  of  all  our  income.  So  that 
we  are  handicapped  in  all  our  efforts  to  do 
constructive  work  for  the  social  and  industrial 
betterment  of  our  people.  When  we  ought 
to  be  spending  scores  of  millions  of  dollars 
on  our  roads  and  canals,  on  our  deserts  and 
swamps,  on  our  farms  and  public  buildings, 
and  when  we  ought  to  be  increasing  the  num- 
ber of  our  Federal  Judges,  and  paying  our 
Ambassadors  adequate  salaries,  and  erecting 
in  every  foreign  capital  an  ambassador’s  resi- 
dence which  would  be  an  honor  to  our  re- 


Christianity  and  Militarism  175 

public,  and  entering  upon  a national  campaign 
for  educating  the  negroes  of  the  South,  and 
for  stamping  out  tuberculosis  throughout  the 
country,  and  for  strengthening  the  agencies 
for  increasing  the  health  and  happiness  of  our 
people,  we  are  already,  in  time  of  peace,  spend- 
ing a quarter  of  a billion  dollars  every  year 
upon  our  army  and  navy,  and  this  is  a mere 
bagatelle  compared  with  what  the  military  and 
naval  experts  want  to  spend.  And  so  while, 
in  one  sense,  it  is  true  that  militarism  is  not 
yet  interfering  in  the  conduct  of  the  civil  af- 
fairs of  this  country,  in  another  sense  it  is 
profoundly  modifying  the  whole  policy  of  our 
government.  Congress  is  giving  more  and 
more  time  to  the  discussion  of  military  mat- 
ters, and  more  and  more  of  our  national  in- 
come is  being  expended  each  year  on  the  in- 
struments of  war. 

If  you  ask  why  Congress  is  willing  to  crip- 
ple the  civil  departments  of  the  government 
for  the  aggrandisement  of  the  naval  establish- 
ment, the  answer  is  that  Congress  is  respon- 
sive to  an  unhealthy  public  sentiment  which 


176  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

has  been  created  by  the  propaganda  carried 
on  for  a generation  by  a company  of  astute 
and  determined  men.  The  nation  has  been 
sent  to  school  and  the  rising  generation  has 
been  taught  lessons  that  our  fathers  never 
learned.  The  same  tactics  are  used  in  this 
country  which  have  proved  successful  across 
the  sea.  Admiral  Von  Tirpitz  built  up  the 
German  navy  by  means  of  a Navy  League. 
Such  a league  has  been  established  in  our  na- 
tional capital.  As  a New  York  paper  said 
the  other  day : “ It  numbers  in  its  member- 

ship a great  many  well  known  men.”  That  is 
the  method  of  all  Navy  Leagues.  They  en- 
roll many  “ well  known  men.”  Illustrious 
names  carry  influence.  Men  not  so  well 
known,  behind  this  influence,  can  do  the  work. 
It  would  be  impossible  to  say  just  how  much 
of  the  propaganda  for  military  preparedness 
in  this  country  can  be  traced  to  the  Navy 
League,  but  we  know  that  throughout  the 
country  systematic  and  effective  work  is  be- 
ing done  for  an  ever  bigger  navy.  For  in- 


Christianity  and  Militarism  1 77 

stance,  the  battleships  are  named  after  the  dif- 
ferent states,  to  stir  up  in  each  state  a public 
enthusiasm  over  increased  naval  appropria- 
tions. Battleships  are  launched  with  great 
eclat,  all  the  leading  state  officials,  and  as  many 
of  the  national  officials  as  possible  being  pres- 
ent. There  is  an  annual  review  of  ships  of 
war  in  the  Hudson  River  that  city  crowds  may 
clap  their  hands  over  them,  and  young  women 
of  prominent  families  may  examine  and  ad- 
mire the  guns  ■ — and  the  men  — and  the  news- 
papers may  advertise  the  needs  of  the  navy  to 
every  other  newspaper  throughout  the  land. 
We  have  our  annual  war  scares  after  the  ap- 
proved European  fashion.  We  have  nervous 
citizens  writing  letters  to  the  newspapers,  call- 
ing attention  to  the  imminent  danger  of  for- 
eign attack.  Generals  and  admirals  give  in- 
terviews to  enterprising  reporters,  the  burden 
of  their  story  always  being  our  frightful 
unpreparedness.  Captains  and  commodores 
write  for  the  Sunday  papers,  and,  when  gifted 
with  a golden  mouth,  they  make  after  dinner 


178  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

speeches,  while  retired  rear-admirals  write 
books  or  stump  the  country  in  the  interests  of 
an  ever  enlarging  fleet. 

In  our  country  as  in  Europe,  the  appeal  is 
always  to  one’s  fears.  It  is  by  fear  that  mili- 
tarism does  its  mighty  works.  Congress  pours 
out  the  money  for  additional  battleships  be- 
cause Congress  is  made  afraid.  It  is  afraid 
that  Japan  is  going  to  steal  the  Philippines! 
There  has  been  for  several  years  a planned 
propaganda  in  this  country  to  misrepresent 
Japan,  and  to  inflame  American  feeling 
against  her.  Faked  interviews  are  published 
from  time  to  time  in  papers  counted  respect- 
able, purporting  to  give  alarmist  opinions  of 
distinguished  men,  the  interviews  being  de- 
nied two  or  three  days  later.  Congress  is 
afraid  that  Germany  is  going  to  annex  Brazil, 
or  some  other  section  of  South  America,  thus 
trampling  on  the  Monroe  doctrine.  There  is 
a sinister  propaganda  to  keep  that  fear  alive. 
If  you  will  watch  the  movements  of  a mili- 
tarist, you  will  find  he  invariably  appeals  to 
fear.  A naval  architect  tells  how  readily  a 


Christianity  and  Militarism  179 

foreign  power  could  take  possession  of  Bos- 
ton, New  York  and  Philadelphia.  An  inven- 
tor of  guns  startles  an  audience  by  reminding 
it  of  our  shortage  in  powder.  A retired  cap- 
tain of  the  navy  writes  in  a Sunday  paper  that 
it  is  chimerical  to  think  that  wars  will  ever 
cease  to  be  waged.  He  remembers  that  Christ 
drove  the  money  changers  out  of  the  temple, 
and  frankly  admits  that  “ it  might  not  prove 
altogether  a misfortune  to  have  a war  forced 
upon  us  in  the  near  future.”  An  ex-president 
of  the  United  States  in  order  to  create  a still 
wilder  alarm,  confides  to  an  audience  that  he 
has  seen  with  his  own  eyes  plans  formed  by 
two  foreign  nations  for  the  invasion  of  our 
country.  The  letters  published  in  the  papers 
on  military  and  naval  matters  are  interesting. 
They  are  written  largely  by  men  who  have 
been  terrorized.  One  says  that  our  navy  is 
absurdly  insufficient  to  protect  our  coasts,  an- 
other says  that  our  homes  and  wealth  and 
pride  are  in  imminent  jeopardy.  Another  as- 
serts that  we  are  treading  in  the  paths  of 
decadent  nations.  Another  hysterically  begs 


180  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

Congress  to  make  haste,  because  there  is  not 
an  hour  to  be  lost.  Whoever  feeds  the  fires 
of  fear,  makes  it  easier  for  militarists  to  work 
their  will.  The  present  war  has  increased  the 
fear  of  all  our  militarists.  They  are  in  a state 
of  frenzied  consternation.  A United  States 
Senator  declares  that  public  buildings  must 
wait.  We  must  have  more  ships,  and  he  does 
not  care  what  they  cost.  A Congressman 
after  talking  with  a few  army  and  naval 
officers,  utters  so  shrill  a shriek  that  it  is  re- 
ported all  over  the  land.  A college  president 
falls  suddenly  in  love  with  the  Swiss  sys- 
tem of  military  drill,  and  wants  ours  to  be- 
come a soldier-nation. 

The  present  agitation  for  increased  mili- 
tary preparedness  has  brought  out  certain 
facts  which  ought  not  to  be  overlooked.  It 
appears  that  we  have  a shocking  scarcity  of 
auxiliary  vessels  in  the  navy.  Our  costly 
dreadnoughts  are  comparatively  worthless,  be- 
cause we  have  not  the  needed  ships  to  protect 
them.  We  have,  moreover,  many  battleships, 
but  we  have  not  enough  men  to  man  them. 


Christianity  and  Militarism  181 

At  the  lowest  estimate  over  five  thousand  men 
are  lacking  in  the  Atlantic  fleet.  We  have  ex- 
cellent coast  guns,  but  we  have  not  the  men  to 
fire  them.  We  have  more  guns  than  powder. 
In  an  hour  or  two  our  whole  stock  of  powder 
would  be  exhausted.  It  is  when  we  consider 
facts  like  these  that  we  see  militarism  on  its 
seamiest  side.  The  Secretary  of  War  tells  us 
that  a large  proportion  of  the  army  posts  are 
worthless.  The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  as- 
sures us  that  a large  number  of  the  navy  yards 
are  needless.  The  men  at  the  head  of  affairs 
confess  to  us  that  after  all  our  lavish  expendi- 
ture of  money,  and  after  these  years  of  toil 
in  getting  ready,  we  are  in  a condition  of 
pitiable  helplessness,  absolutely  at  the  mercy 
of  any  foe  who  cares  to  strike.  Why  do  you 
suppose  dreadnoughts  are  built  out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  auxiliary  vessels?  Is  it  because  the 
profit  on  big  ships  is  greater?  And  why  do 
we  go  on  building  more  ships,  when  we  do 
not  have  the  men  to  man  the  ships  we  already 
have?  Is  it  because  somebody  is  pushing 
harder  for  ships  than  somebody  else  is  push- 


182  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

ing  for  men?  Why  do  we  buy  more  guns 
when  we  lack  men  to  fire  the  guns  we  have? 
Can  it  be  that  there  is  more  profit  in  guns 
than  in  men?  Why  do  we  go  on  ordering 
guns,  when  we  lack  the  powder  to  make  them 
effective?  Is  it  because  guns  cost  more 
money  than  powder,  and  because  it  is  more 
profitable  to  deal  in  one  rather  than  in  the 
other?  What  kind  of  men  have  we  had  in 
Washington  City  the  last  twenty  years,  that 
things  should  get  into  this  disgraceful  predica- 
ment? If  half  that  has  been  said  within  the 
last  thirty  days  about  the  condition  of  our 
army  and  navy  is  true,  then  the  men  who 
have  been  in  authority  in  Washington  City 
are  branded  with  ineffaceable  disgrace.  What 
is  the  use  of  going  on  squandering  our 
money  for  preparation,  to  find  ourselves  at 
last  totally  unprepared?  Militarism  whets 
the  appetite  of  war  traders  and  increases  the 
number  and  importunacy  of  the  lobbyists,  and 
opens  up  numberless  new  avenues  for  graft 
and  jobbery,  and  every  sort  of  political  cor- 
ruption. For  many  reasons,  Americans  have 


Christianity  and  Militarism  183 

more  cause  to  be  on  their  guard  against  mil- 
itarists than  against  any  other  class  of  our 
people.  As  soon  as  a nation  is  swayed  by 
fear,  it  abdicates  the  throne  of  reason,  and  is 
ready  to  plunge  into  all  sorts  of  wild  and  de- 
structive excesses. 

A word  of  caution  at  this  point  is  necessary. 
Because  militarists  are  dangerous,  it  does  not 
follow  that  every  man  in  the  United  States 
army  and  navy  is  dangerous.  Not  every  man 
in  our  army  and  navy  is  a militarist.  Many 
of  them  are  not.  Many  are  noble  and  sensi- 
ble and  peace  loving  men.  Many  of  them 
refuse  to  run  to  Congress  for  additional  legis- 
lation, and  to  sell  themselves  to  the  Sunday 
newspapers,  and  to  talk  at  every  opportunity 
with  newspaper  reporters,  and  to  stump  the 
country  to  extend  the  reign  of  fear.  Many 
have  never  been  Prussianized,  and  refuse  to 
subscribe  to  the  militarist  creed.  For  these 
men  let  us  have  nothing  but  respect  and  grati- 
tude. We  cannot  get  on  as  a nation  without 
an  army  and  a navy  for  police  purposes,  and 
consequently  to  hold  a place  in  either  of  them 


184  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

is  both  honorable  and  Christian.  There  is  no 
reason  why  any  Christian  man  should  on  ac- 
count of  his  religion,  refuse  to  enter  either 
service.  There  is  work  of  many  kinds  which 
trained  soldiers  can  do  better  than  anybody 
else.  What  Americans  stand  higher  to-day  in 
the  esteem  of  us  all  than  Col.  Goethals  and 
Col.  Gorgas?  They  are  only  specimens  of  a 
fine  body  of  men  of  whom  we  Americans  have 
every  reason  to  be  proud.  But  in  our  army 
and  navy  there  are  also  dangerous  men,  dan- 
gerous because  dominated  by  false  ideas,  and 
because  in  the  enthusiasm  of  their  pagan  faith, 
they  are  ready  to  move  heaven  and  earth  to 
bring  this  nation  down  to  the  low  level  of  Eu- 
rope. Whenever  they  write  or  speak  they 
make  mischief  because  they  exploit  mistaken 
ideals.  Experts  in  military  maneuvers,  they 
know  nothing  of  statesmanship  or  the  moral 
order  of  the  world.  They  look  at  everything 
through  the  bore  of  a gun,  and  they  bring 
down  the  ideals  of  every  young  man  whom 
they  touch.  It  was  this  type  of  man  who  poi- 
soned the  brain  and  heart  of  Europe  and  who 


Christianity  and  Militarism  185 

more  than  anybody  else  is  responsible  for  the 
great  war. 

Let  us  not  be  deceived  by  loud  talk  about 
our  unpreparedness.  It  is  our  good  fortune 
that  we  are  unprepared.  Do  not  let  us  be 
ashamed  of  our  little  army.  Its  diminutive 
size  is  a crown  of  glory.  How  proud  we 
should  feel  that  we  have  the  smallest  army  of 
any  great  power  in  the  world.  Let  us  not  shed 
tears  when  our  navy  slips  down  from  second 
place  to  third  place,  and  let  us  not  be  in  terror 
if  it  slips  from  third  place  into  fourth,  and 
from  fourth  into  fifth.  It  is  not  a disgrace 
to  be  the  lowest  in  the  list.  It  is  possible  that 
in  this  as  in  certain  other  things,  to  be  first  is 
to  be  last,  and  to  be  last  is  to  be  first. 

Let  us  beware  of  coveting  military  ef- 
ficiency. The  first  effect  of  it  would  be  to 
make  nations  afraid  of  us.  It  is  the  worst 
fate  which  can  befall  a nation,  that  other  na- 
tions become  afraid  of  it.  Fear  passes  in- 
evitably into  hate,  and  the  hate  of  its  neigh- 
bors is  the  one  thing  which  no  nation  can  af- 
ford. We  have  enough  unfortunate  handi- 


186  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

caps  already  without  adding  another.  We 
are  large.  We  have  an  immense  country, 
with  a vast  population  and  with  enormous  re- 
sources. We  have  a tendency  to  brag  and  to 
strut.  We  let  the  American  Eagle  scream  too 
much.  We  are  commercially  ambitious  and 
aggressive  and  pushing,  and  a complete  suit  of 
armor  would  only  intensify  our  native  traits. 
We  are  an  inflammable  people.  We  have 
great  cities  which  readily  catch  fire.  We  have 
demagogues  in  Congress,  and  jingoes  in  pos- 
session of  some  of  our  papers.  It  was  not 
many  years  ago  that  in  many  of  our  cities  mobs 
cried  out  like  wild  Indians : “ Remember  the 

Maine!”  We  cannot  afford  to  run  the  risk 
of  being  prepared.  It  would  be  dangerous 
for  us  to  be  able  to  strike  at  the  drop  of  the 
hat.  We  never  want  to  be  able  to  issue  ul- 
timatums. We  do  not  desire  our  government 
to  be  geared  up  for  war.  We  must  keep  it  in 
a condition  of  unpreparedness  to  shed  blood. 
It  was  the  preparedness  of  Europe  which 
pushed  it  over  the  precipice  into  the  abyss. 
Had  it  not  been  so  completely  prepared  for 


Christianity  and  Militarism  187 

battle,  there  would  have  been  time  for  the 
exercise  of  reason.  Reason  was  absolutely 
banished  by  Europe’s  preparedness  for  war. 
They  say  it  would  take  us  months  to  get  ready 
to  meet  a foe.  This  is  our  safeguard.  While 
we  are  getting  ready  we  shall  have  time  to 
talk  with  our  enemy,  and  after  a good  frank 
conference,  a way  out  of  the  difficulty  is  likely 
to  emerge. 

Because  of  our  size  and  our  resources  and 
our  temper,  any  conspicuous  and  exaggerated 
preparedness  on  our  part  only  excites  irrita- 
tion in  smaller  nations,  and  increases  their 
dislike  of  us.  We  cannot  add  to  our  military 
and  naval  equipment  without  stirring  fears 
and  unfriendly  feelings  in  the  hearts  of  the 
South  American  peoples.  They  are  afraid  of 
us  already,  and  every  new  battleship  we  build 
only  makes  them  still  more  afraid.  Mr. 
Bryce  has  told  us  that  they  are  far  more 
afraid  of  us  than  they  are  of  the  Germans. 
We,  at  the  same  time,  by  every  addition  to  our 
navy,  increase  Japan’s  fear  of  us.  We  have 
taken  Hawaii,  and  the  Philippines,  and  there 


188  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

are  men  in  Japan  foolish  enough  to  think  that 
our  next  move  will  be  to  take  Japan.  This 
sounds  like  lunacy  to  you,  but  why  should  that 
be  counted  insane,  when  we  have  honorable 
men  in  this  country  not  in  an  insane  asylum 
but  in  high  positions  who  believe  that  Japan 
at  the  first  opportunity  will  attack  and  try  to 
humble  the  United  States? 

Every  move  in  increased  armament  by  us 
has  its  effect  on  every  European  nation. 
Great  Britain  and  Germany  count  the  num- 
ber of  our  dreadnoughts  as  carefully  as  they 
count  their  own,  and  naval  policy  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Atlantic  will  always  be  influenced 
by  what  our  policy  is. 

For  the  sake  of  the  world,  then,  as  well  as 
for  our  own  sake,  we  cannot  afford  to  go  on 
building  an  ever  bigger  navy,  or  begin  to 
agitate  for  the  doubling  of  our  army.  Our 
only  hope  of  leading  the  nations  out  of  the 
present  dilemma  is  to  set  them  an  example. 
We  cannot  expect  them  to  lay  down  their 
arms  so  long  as  we  are  buying  new  ones.  Our 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  hopes  the  day  will  come 


Christianity  and  Militarism  189 

when  the  feverish  haste  and  competition  in 
costly  engines  of  destruction  will  stop,  but 
he  goes  right  on  recommending  new  battle- 
ships and  submarines  for  the  United  States 
Navy.  He  says  the  American  people  are 
against  making  the  United  States  into  a mili- 
tary nation  in  competition  with  the  heavily 
armed  powers  of  Europe,  and  in  the  next 
breath  he  says  that  the  American  navy  should 
be  steadily  strengthened.  A man  who  talks 
thus  has  never  thought  this  subject  through. 
If  we  are  not  going  to  compete  with  Euro- 
pean nations  in  armament  then  we  must  cease 
buying  armor.  If  we  want  the  feverish  com- 
petition to  stop,  we  must  first  stop  ourselves. 
Do  you  suppose  we  can  disarm  Europe  by 
bluster?  Can  we  woo  her  from  her  false 
policies  by  fear?  Never.  It  was  the  sun  and 
not  the  wind  which  induced  the  traveler  to 
take  off  his  coat.  Only  a nation  unarmed  can 
induce  another  nation  to  believe  in  disarma- 
ment. But  would  it  not  be  a risk  for  the 
United  States  to  cease  to  buy  guns?  Of 
course  it  would.  But  to  take  risks  is  a thing 


190  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

which  America  was  ordained  to  do.  It  took  a 
risk  when  it  abolished  kings,  and  another  risk 
when  it  dispensed  with  a state  church,  and  an- 
other risk  when  it  trusted  everything  to  the 
people,  and  another  risk  when  it  admitted  for- 
eigners from  all  countries,  and  another  risk 
when  it  decided  to  leave  its  northern  boundary 
of  thirty-eight  hundred  miles  without  a fort. 
These  are  all  colossal  risks,  but  what  else  be- 
sides these  have  we  done  that  is  really  glori- 
ous? Nothing  truly  great  can  be  done  in  this 
world  which  is  not  a risk.  It  is  only  great 
men  and  great  nations  which  throw  themselves 
into  hazardous  ventures.  It  is  only  by  a mag- 
nificent act  of  heroism  that  America  can  cut 
the  chain  by  which  the  nations  now  are  bound. 
Why  should  not  America  risk  its  life,  if  neces- 
sary, in  order  to  save  the  world  ? 

Militarism  and  Christianity  are  implacable 
and  irreconcilable  foes.  The  one  believes  in 
the  mailed  fist,  the  other  trusts  the  power  of 
the  hand  that  is  pierced.  The  one  worships 
the  big  stick,  the  other  commits  all  things  to 
the  heart  that  is  gentle.  The  one  declares 


Christianity  and  Militarism  191 

that  might  makes  right,  the  other  believes  that 
right  makes  might.  The  one  believes  that  the 
strong  can  conquer  the  weak,  the  other  be- 
lieves that  the  weak  can  conquer  the  strong. 
The  one  works  by  fear,  the  other  works  by 
persuasion.  The  one  asserts  that  the  founda- 
tion of  the  universe  is  force,  the  other  declares 
that  the  universe  is  built  on  love.  Milita- 
rism is  from  beneath,  Christianity  is  from 
above.  Militarism  is  materialism  in  its  dead- 
liest manifestation.  It  is  atheism  in  its  most 
brutal  and  blatant  incarnation.  It  is  the 
enemy  of  God  and  man.  It  must  be  over- 
thrown. Every  nation  which  embraces  it 
goes  down  to  the  chambers  of  death. 

By  its  fruits  we  are  to  judge  it.  Milita- 
rism generates  an  evil  spirit  in  the  hearts  of 
men.  It  feeds  suspicion,  and  distrust,  and 
hate.  It  sows  the  seed  of  dissension,  and  fills 
the  world  with  disquieting  rumors.  It  is  the 
arch  deceiver.  It  promises  nations  safety, 
insurance,  guarantees  of  peace,  and  then  over- 
whelms them  in  a sea  of  blood.  It  keeps  hu- 
manity back  from  attaining  its  goal.  All  the 


192  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

peoples  of  Europe  wanted  peace,  and  so  — I 
think  — did  all  the  rulers,  but  it  was  not  pos- 
sible for  rulers  or  peoples  to  secure  what  they 
desired,  because  Europe  was  held  tight  in  the 
clutches  of  a set  of  militarist  oligarchies. 

Militarism  offers  no  hope  for  the  future. 
When  it  looks  ahead  it  sees  nothing  but  car- 
nage. At  the  end  of  this  war  America  must 
prepare  to  fight  the  victor  — so  our  militarists 
are  saying.  Later  on  there  will  be  a great 
conflict  between  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the 
Slav,  and  after  that  there  will  come  a world 
shattering  clash  between  the  Orient  and  the 
West.  Through  the  centuries  there  will  be 
suspicion  and  hatred,  increasing  taxation  and 
suffering,  and  labor  and  anguish,  and  the  end 
of  it  all  a bloody  tomb!  Such  a philosophy 
of  life  must  have  been  formulated  in  hell. 
It  is  only  in  hell  that  men  abandon  hope. 
Militarists  are  tortured  with  fears  for  the 
present,  and  beyond  them  there  rise  no  delec- 
table mountains  aglow  with  the  glory  of  God. 

But  when  we  turn  to  Christianity  she  speaks 
to  us  with  a soothing,  healing  accent.  She 


Christianity  and  Militarism  193 

uses  the  vocabulary  of  consolation.  She  bids 
us  to  have  faith,  and  she  exhorts  us  to  hope, 
and  she  tells  us  of  the  wonder  and  power  of 
love.  She  speaks  to  us  of  a Father  in  Heaven 
who  loves  all  his  children,  and  of  a race  of 
men  all  of  whom  are  brothers,  and  she  pic- 
tures for  us  a beautiful  world  — far  off  in 
the  future  — in  which  nations  learn  war  no 
more.  Those  who  listen  to  her  find  them- 
selves delivered  from  a great  bondage,  and 
in  newness  of  heart  they  go  out  saying  to 
everybody : “ God  has  not  given  us  the  spirit 

of  fear,  but  of  power,  and  of  love,  and  of  a 
sound  mind.” 


V 


Fallacies  of  Militarism 

Error  never  walks  naked  across  the  earth. 
It  always  puts  on  robes  which  make  it  look 
like  the  truth.  The  spirit  of  evil  never  ap- 
proaches us  with  hoofs  and  horns,  but  always 
as  an  angel  of  light.  Militarism  has  gotten 
its  tenacious  grip  on  the  world  by  the  use  of 
the  magic  of  delusive  words.  Its  power  lies 
in  the  sophistries  which  it  proclaims  as  in- 
controvertible axioms.  It  works  its  will  by 
putting  out  men’s  eyes,  and  it  puts  out  men’s 
eyes  by  throwing  into  them  the  acid  of  be- 
liefs that  are  false. 

Militarists  of  all  countries  work  after  the 
same  fashion  in  winning  new  converts  and  ex- 
tending their  power.  They  begin  by  discredit- 
ing the  men  who  oppose  them.  They  call 
194 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  195 

them  sentimentalists,  visionaries,  Utopians, 
dreamers.  They  accuse  them  of  being  igno- 
rant of  human  nature.  They  do  not  know, 
they  say,  the  nature  of  man,  or  heed  the  les- 
sons of  human  experience.  They  are  unac- 
quainted with  the  conditions  which  exist  in 
our  modern  world,  theirs  is  the  valor  of  ig- 
norance. Sometimes  the  accusation  becomes 
harsher.  These  pacifists  are  called  peace-at- 
any-price  men,  that  is,  men  who  are  willing  to 
lie  down  and  be  trampled  on,  and  who  advise 
nations  to  submit  meekly  to  every  outrage 
which  may  be  perpetrated  on  them.  Peace-at- 
any-price  men  have  no  sense  of  honor,  nor 
are  they  loyal  to  the  principles  of  righteous- 
ness. They  put  tranquillity  above  righteous- 
ness, and  freedom  from  pain  above  justice. 
They  care  nothing  for  principle,  if  only  they 
can  save  their  skin.  For  instance,  a distin- 
guished editor  of  a reputable  weekly  says, 
“ We  believe  that  those  who  seek  interna- 
tional righteousness  through  national  im- 
potence are  brothers  to  those  who  might  hope 
to  abolish  individual  murder  by  abolishing 


196  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

the  civil  police.”  The  assumption  is  that 
without  colossal  armies  and  navies  nations 
are  impotent,  and  that  the  only  way  of 
securing  righteousness  on  the  earth  is  through 
preparedness  to  indulge  on  a great  scale  in 
human  slaughter.  To  make  the  pacifists  look 
ignorant,  silly,  and  ridiculous  is  the  first  move 
always  in  the  militarist  campaign.  If  you 
can  create  the  impression  that  any  set  of  men 
are  lacking  not  only  in  patriotism  but  also  in 
genuine  devotion  to  high  principle  of  any  sort, 
you  have  gone  a long  way  in  breaking  the 
force  of  their  arguments. 

This  charge  of  ignorance  is  a subtle  one, 
and  how  to  answer  it  is  not,  to  many,  at  once 
apparent.  When  men  say  that  only  the  mili- 
tary and  naval  experts  are  competent  to  pass 
judgment  on  matters  relating  to  the  national 
defense,  and  that  we  shall  do  wisely  to  allow 
the  specialists  to  determine  for  us  what  our 
national  policy  shall  be,  there  is  a plausibility 
in  the  assertion  which  is  captivating,  and  likely 
to  be  convincing  unless  one  looks  into  the 
claim  and  separates  the  truth  in  it  from  the 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  197 

falsehood.  It  is  true  that  in  all  technical  mat- 
ters in  the  art  of  war,  we  must  defer  to  the 
judgment  of  our  military  experts.  They  are 
the  only  men  who  can  tell  us  how  mines  are 
to  be  laid,  and  how  they  can  be  swept  up, 
how  far  projectiles  can  be  hurled,  and  how 
much  damage  explosives  will  do,  how  thick 
the  armor  plate  on  the  battleships  shall  be, 
and  of  what  material  the  strongest  fortifica- 
tions are  built.  Within  his  own  province,  the 
military  expert  is  supreme.  He  alone  pos- 
sesses the  technical  knowledge  which  is  able 
to  solve  the  problems  which  modem  warfare 
presents.  But  outside  of  this  narrow  circle 
of  technical  knowledge,  the  military  expert  is 
not  to  be  accepted  as  an  oracle.  The  very 
fact  that  he  is  a specialist  devoting  his  life 
to  one  narrow  range  of  data  should  make  us 
wary  of  trusting  him  in  the  larger  field  of 
statesmanship.  The  study  of  projectiles  and 
explosives  does  not  of  necessity  unfold  the 
mind  for  dealing  with  the  problems  which  in- 
ternational life  presents.  Target  practice  on 
the  land  or  sea  does  not  train  the  eye  to  see 


198  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

the  great  facts  of  life  as  they  are.  Ponder- 
ing the  history  of  military  campaigns,  and  map- 
ping imaginary  battlefields  is  not  ideal  train- 
ing for  men  who  are  to  guide  the  feet  of  na- 
tions into  the  paths  of  peace.  It  is  a mis- 
chievous assumption  that  army  and  navy  of- 
ficers have  peculiar  qualifications  for  dealing 
with  the  problems  of  statesmanship,  and  that 
they,  more  than  all  others,  are  to  be  consulted 
in  determining  the  policy  and  program  of  a 
nation  in  the  realm  of  international  relations. 
It  is  a trick  of  all  oligarchies  to  gather  up 
power  into  their  own  hands.  Military  cliques 
have  a swift  way  of  determining  what  are 
military  necessities.  They  trample  without 
mercy  on  men  who  stand  in  their  way.  They 
are  the  last  men  in  the  nation  to  be  consulted 
on  the  large  questions  of  national  policy,  and 
expenditures.  We  are  a democracy,  and  no 
man  of  us  can  for  a moment  consent  to  stand 
dumb  on  the  most  critical  and  far-reaching 
of  all  national  problems,  allowing  leadership 
to  pass  into  the  hands  of  a special  caste. 
Every  American  citizen  of  intelligence  and 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  199 

conscience  is  competent  to  form  opinions  as  to 
the  right  relation  of  our  nation  to  the  other 
nations  of  the  earth,  and  to  reach  conclusions 
as  to  the  amount  of  money  which  we  can 
wisely  spend  each  year  on  guns.  One  need 
not  be  an  expert  on  the  comparative  value  of 
submarines  and  dreadnoughts,  or  on  the  ex- 
plosive powers  of  lyddite  and  melinite,  in 
order  to  take  intelligent  part  in  the  discussion 
of  the  great  question  of  national  defense.  A 
man  who  is  tolerably  well  acquainted  with  the 
history  of  the  last  two  thousand  years,  and 
who  is  conversant  with  the  principles  laid 
down  in  the  New  Testament,  is  better  fitted 
to  deal  with  these  high  matters  than  any 
number  of  men  whose  chief  claim  to  distinc- 
tion is  a knowledge  of  the  chemistry  of  ex- 
plosives, and  a mastery  of  the  tactics  of  war. 
Thousands  of  our  fellow  citizens  are  quite  too 
humble.  They  have  allowed  themselves  to  be 
browbeaten  by  military  and  naval  nabobs. 
They  have  come  to  look  upon  the  questions 
clustering  round  army  and  navy  as  remote 
from  them,  matters  in  which  they  are  not  to 


200  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

interfere.  It  is  only  by  getting  all  classes  of 
the  people  to  think  and  talk  of  these  matters, 
that  the  power  of  the  militarist  can  be  broken. 

Sometimes  every  effort  to  get  the  world  into 
a different  mood  and  practice  is  discouraged 
on  the  ground  that  all  such  efforts  are  hope- 
less. “ Human  nature  is  what  it  is,  and  can- 
not be  changed.  Men  have  always  fought, 
and  therefore  they  always  will  fight.  There 
have  been  wars  from  the  beginning,  and 
therefore  there  will  be  wars  to  the  end.  They 
are  forever  inevitable,  and  consequently  our 
only  wise  course  is  to  prepare  for  them.” 

The  argument  seems  at  first  not  only  plausi- 
ble but  unanswerable.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
man  from  the  beginning  has  been  a belligerent 
creature,  and  that  war  has  continued  with  only 
brief  interruptions  up  to  the  present  hour.  It 
cannot  be  denied  that  neither  science  nor  art 
nor  religion  nor  law  has  been  able  to  abolish 
it,  and  that  it  is  now  raging  in  its  most  horrible 
and  devastating  form.  If  we  are  to  judge  of 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  201 

the  future  by  the  past,  it  would  seem  that  we 
must  accept  what  the  militarist  says. 

But  it  is  not  true  that  man  cannot  be 
changed.  Science  will  not  permit  us  to  say 
that.  Science  holds  the  theory  of  evolution, 
and  contends  that  the  whole  universe  of  life 
is  going  on  and  up.  It  says  that  the  horse 
has  changed,  and  that  the  dog  has  evolved. 
It  declares  that  herbs  and  flowers  and  trees 
have  all  passed  through  transformations,  and 
that  by  pressure  exerted  by  man,  these  trans- 
formations can  be  accelerated  and  guided. 
Science  has  carefully  gathered  up  the  relics 
of  primitive  man,  and  takes  delight  in  pointing 
out  how  he  has  been  slowly  climbing  on  step- 
ping stones  of  his  dead  self  to  higher  things. 
It  seems  singular  that  any  man  who  has 
breathed  the  atmosphere  of  the  modern  scien- 
tific world  should  ever  say  a thing  so  stupid  as 
that  man  cannot  be  changed.  He  is  the  one 
creature  among  all  the  animals  on  our  planet 
who  is  most  susceptible  to  change.  He  can 
be  changed  more  rapidly  and  more  radically 


202  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

than  any  other  living  being.  If  this  were  not 
true,  all  educators  would  be  discouraged,  and 
all  religious  teachers  would  work  in  vain. 

History  declares  on  every  page  that  human 
nature  can  be  changed.  You  cannot  change 
the  constitution  of  the  human  mind  or  the 
corpuscles  in  the  human  blood,  but  you  can 
change  man’s  ideals,  his  beliefs,  his  desires, 
and  changing  these,  you  change  his  conduct, 
and  when  you  change  his  conduct  you  change 
the  world.  Because  a thing  has  existed  for  cen- 
turies it  does  not  follow  that  it  must  always  be. 
Slavery  existed  for  uncounted  thousands  of 
years.  There  never  lived  a Greek  or  Roman 
who  dared  to  dream  that  it  would  ever  cease 
to  be.  It  lived  on  century  after  century  even 
in  countries  which  confessed  allegiance  to 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  In  our  own  country  it 
died  only  about  fifty  years  ago.  After  con- 
tinuing for  thousands  of  generations  it  finally 
vanished,  and  no  one  believes  it  will  ever  come 
back  again. 

For  millenniums  men  believed  in  witchcraft. 
It  was  not  an  isolated  belief,  it  was  universal. 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  203 

It  was  not  temporary,  but  persistent.  It  held 
its  grip  upon  the  mind  for  ages.  Less  than 
two  hundred  years  ago,  all  the  most  learned 
and  most  highly  cultivated  men  upon  the  earth 
believed  in  the  power  of  witches,  and  it  is 
said  that  in  the  seventeenth  century  in  Europe 
alone  over  one  hundred  thousand  men  and 
women  were  put  to  death  on  the  charge  of 
being  guilty  of  this  awful  crime.  Men  living 
in  that  century  no  doubt  were  certain  that  the 
belief  in  witchcraft  would  abide  forever,  and 
yet  in  less  than  two  hundred  years  it  has  van- 
ished completely  from  all  civilized  countries, 
and  will  never  come  back  again.  As  soon  as 
men  ceased  to  believe  in  witchcraft,  they 
ceased  to  kill  women  on  the  charge  of  being 
witches. 

For  centuries  the  courts  of  Europe  in  order 
to  find  out  the  guilt  of  prisoners  subjected 
them  to  various  forms  of  torture.  It  was  a 
clumsy  and  cruel  procedure,  and  yet  it  was 
sanctioned  by  the  highest  legal  authorities  in 
the  world.  Instruments  of  torture  used  in 
the  mediaeval  ages  are  on  exhibition  in  all 


204  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

the  museums  of  Europe,  and  we  look  upon 
them  with  wonder  and  horror.  As  soon  as 
men  came  to  believe  that  the  truth  can  be  as- 
certained more  surely  in  other  ways  than  by 
the  use  of  torture,  the  old  instruments  were 
laid  aside. 

Now  suppose  that  men  should  some  day 
cease  to  believe  in  war  as  the  best  way  of  set- 
tling international  disputes,  just  as  they  have 
ceased  to  believe  in  witchcraft,  and  in  slavery 
and  in  the  use  of  torture,  then  the  making  of 
guns  would  cease.  That  such  a time  will 
come  is  as  certain  as  it  is  that  slavery  is  dead. 
Victor  Hugo  spoke  with  the  insight  of  a 
prophet  when  years  ago  he  declared  that  the 
time  would  come  when  a cannon  ball  would 
be  preserved  in  museums,  to  be  looked  at  with 
the  same  feelings  with  which  we  now  gaze  on 
the  abandoned  instruments  of  torture. 

Science  and  history  thus  combine  to  repudi- 
ate the  assertion  that  human  nature  cannot  be 
changed,  and  in  this  they  are  supported  by  re- 
ligion. Christianity  is  the  religion  that  goes 
the  farthest  in  its  belief  in  the  changeable- 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  205 

ness  of  man.  It  assumes  that  he  can  be 
changed,  not  superficially  but  radically.  Not 
only  can  his  ideals  and  beliefs  be  altered,  but 
he  can  be  transformed  down  to  the  very  roots 
of  his  being.  He  can  be  born  again.  Not 
only  is  this  possible,  but  it  is  a necessity.  A 
man  must  be  born  again  in  order  to  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  God.  A man’s  disposition,  at- 
titude, affections,  all  can  be  changed  and  must 
be  changed,  this  is  fundamental  in  the  religion 
of  Jesus.  How  can  a Christian  with  the  New 
Testament  before  him  ever  admit  that  human 
nature  cannot  be  changed?  Man  can  be  mar- 
velously transformed  in  the  course  of  a few 
centuries.  Our  forefathers  drank  blood  out 
of  the  skulls  of  their  murdered  foes,  and  to 
do  that  again  in  the  hall  of  Valhalla  was  their 
highest  conception  of  heaven.  We  have  been 
changed  from  character  to  character  by  the 
working  of  the  spirit  of  the  Lord.  But  men 
can  be  changed  in  one  generation.  When 
John  G.  Paton  went  to  the  New  Hebrides  he 
found  only  degraded  and  murderous  canni- 
bals. Before  he  laid  down  his  work,  thou- 


206  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

sands  of  men  and  women,  once  savages,  were 
singing  in  happy  Christian  homes  the  praises 
of  God. 

It  is  only  when  you  have  disposed  of  the 
fallacy  of  the  alleged  unchangeableness  of  hu- 
man nature,  that  you  can  successfully  deal 
with  another  of  the  most  seductive  of  the 
militarist  fallacies : “ In  time  of  peace  pre- 
pare for  war.”  It  is  a pagan  adage,  born  in 
a world  into  which  Jesus  had  not  yet  come, 
and  it  was  repeated  with  approbation  by  good 
men  down  to  the  days  of  Washington,  just  as 
the  belief  in  witchcraft  survived  down  to  the 
days  of  John  Wesley.  Washington  accepted 
it  just  as  Wesley  accepted  the  belief  in 
witches.  But  there  are  men  who  would  keep 
it  alive  forever.  Even  in  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury they  think  it  wise  to  make  this  old  out- 
worn adage  the  basis  of  national  policy. 

It  is  a maxim  which  belonged  primarily  to 
a world  of  savages.  When  Columbus  dis- 
covered America  he  found  the  natives  had 
reached  that  stage  of  development  in  which  it 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  20 7 

was  necessary  in  time  of  peace  to  prepare  for 
war.  War  was  the  established  occupation  of 
all  the  tribes.  Men  lived  to  fight.  Now  and 
then  there  came  a lull  in  the  fighting,  and  in 
that  lull  it  was  necessary  to  provide  new 
tomahawks  and  additional  arrows  for  the  bat- 
tle which  was  certain  soon  to  begin.  So  long 
as  men  are  savages  there  is  nothing  for  them 
to  do  but  to  prepare  for  war  in  time  of  peace. 
The  adage  is  also  workable  among  barbarians, 
and  even  among  semi-barbarians,  and  that  was 
as  high  as  most  peoples  rose  before  the  Chris- 
tian era.  Roman  history,  for  instance,  from 
Romulus  to  Caesar  Augustus  is  a history  of 
war.  In  the  entire  period  of  seven  hundred 
years  there  were  only  brief  and  scattered  sea- 
sons of  peace.  It  was  counted  heroic  to  kill 
men,  and  greatness  was  measured  by  the  ex- 
tent of  the  slaughter.  But  with  the  advent 
of  Christianity,  there  came  a change  in  the 
ideals  and  sentiments  of  men,  and  war  began 
to  lose  some  of  its  ancient  glory.  Little  by  lit- 
tle, very  slowly,  the  ideals  of  peace  have  made 
progress  against  the  ideals  of  war,  until  now, 


208  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

although  wars  still  occur,  they  are  looked 
upon  by  all  good  men  with  horror.  In  savage 
lands  men  fight  all  the  time : in  barbaric  coun- 
tries they  fight  most  of  their  time,  in  semi- 
civilized  countries  they  fight  much  of  their 
time,  but  in  Christianized  countries  they  now 
fight  only  a little  of  their  time.  Peace  is  now 
the  normal  state  of  mankind,  and  war  is  ab- 
normal. No  sooner  does  a war  now  begin 
than  a vast  multitude  of  people  begin  at  once 
to  hope  and  plan  for  its  ending.  War  is 
something  which  has  become  abhorrent  and 
well-nigh  unendurable.  Wars  are  now  there- 
fore only  occasional.  When  they  occur,  they 
so  break  up  all  the  arrangements  of  our  life, 
that  they  seem  to  be  incursions  from  some  in- 
fernal world.  When  nations  lived  isolated 
lives,  and  modern  commerce  had  not  yet  been 
born,  and  none  of  the  thousand  tender  ties  by 
which  we  are  now  bound  together  had  been 
formed,  war  was  not  a world  wide  calamity. 
But  now  no  two  nations  can  fight  without  all 
nations  suffering  with  them.  War  breaks 
down  the  machinery  of  the  world,  it  upsets  all 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  209 

the  normal  processes  of  living  and  working,  it 
stabs  humanity  in  the  heart.  Wars  have  be- 
come so  expensive  and  exhausting  that  they 
cannot  come  often.  They  will  come  less  fre- 
quently in  the  future  than  they  came  in  the 
past.  The  periods  of  peace  will  gradually  in- 
crease. The  duration  of  war  will  gradually 
shorten.  And  now  in  these  changed  condi- 
tions to  go  on  saying:  “In  time  of  peace 
prepare  for  war,”  is  to  talk  like  a parrot  that 
repeats  something  not  because  it  is  sensible  or 
pertinent  but  because  it  has  been  said.  To 
spend  the  long  years  of  peace  in  drilling  for 
a few  months  of  war,  to  pile  up  through  dec- 
ades of  peace,  apparatus  and  ammunition 
which  can  be  used  up  in  one  short  and  furious 
and  deadly  struggle,  certainly  that  is  the  advice 
of  men  who  have  lost  their  senses.  They 
have  become  obsessed  by  an  ancient  adage. 
“ New  occasions  teach  new  duties,  time  makes 
ancient  good  uncouth.”  The  adage  for  our 
age  is : “ In  time  of  peace,  prepare  for  a 

longer  and  a richer  and  a more  stable  peace. 
Get  your  peace  machinery  in  order.  Have  the 


210  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

wheels  of  the  peace  machine  oiled  so  that  they 
will  turn  easily  when  the  hour  of  crisis  comes. 
Clashes  of  interest  there  will  always  be,  out- 
bursts of  passion  there  will  always  be,  tempta- 
tions to  overreach  and  to  strike  there  will  al- 
ways be,  and  so  you  must  prepare  for  the 
perilous  hour,  and  have  your  house  so  com- 
pletely in  order  that  when  international  rela- 
tions become  strained,  and  passions  which  are 
divisive  become  mighty,  you  shall  have  ready 
to  your  hand,  the  legal  instruments  which 
will  enable  you  to  curb  the  turbulent  elements 
and  keep  the  arbitrament  of  reason  supreme.” 

It  used  to  be  said  that  preparedness  for 
war  is  the  only  sure  guarantee  of  peace.  A 
monstrous  fallacy,  and  yet  almost  universally 
accepted.  It  was  on  this  plea  that  European 
nations  armed  themselves  to  the  teeth.  They 
were  willing  to  bring  themselves  to  the  verge 
of  bankruptcy  if  only  they  could  escape  the 
horror  and  ruin  of  war.  But  their  efforts 
were  vain.  The  very  means  selected  to  avert 
an  unspeakable  calamity  proved  to  be  the  most 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  211 

efficacious  instrument  for  bringing  it  on. 
Men  no  longer  say  that  preparedness  is  the 
only  guarantee  of  peace ; they  now  affirm  that 
it  is  the  surest  guarantee  of  peace.  If  this  is 
so,  then  we  have  no  guarantees  of  peace  which 
are  of  the  slightest  value.  Two  nations  of 
Europe  which  were  the  most  thoroughly  pre- 
pared — Russia  and  Germany  — are  the  two 
nations  which  clashed  the  soonest.  Where  the 
armies  were  largest,  there  was  most  talk  of  an 
alleged  inevitable  conflict.  The  German  has 
long  looked  upon  war  with  the  Slav  as  un- 
escapable,  and  the  Slav  has  considered  the 
Teuton  as  a foe  certainly  to  be  reckoned  with. 
The  larger  the  armies  became  the  stronger 
grew  the  conviction  that  war  was  inevitable. 
Nations  cannot  bend  their  energies  to  prepara- 
tions for  war  without  ultimately  fighting. 
The  things  we  prepare  for  are  the  things 
which  we  get.  The  seeds  that  we  sow  are 
certain  to  come  up.  Standing  armies  will 
stand  for  a season,  but  soon  or  late  they  grow 
impatient  and  move.  Playing  at  war  is  fas- 
cinating for  a time,  but  grown-up  men  after 


212  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

awhile  grow  weary  of  it,  and  long  to  live  in 
earnest.  Sham  battles  on  land  and  sea  never 
satisfy.  They  always  leave  undemonstrated 
what  the  military  experts  most  of  all  want  to 
know.  It  is  only  in  the  fiery  furnace  of  bat- 
tle that  the  different  theories  of  formation, 
and  the  various  types  of  guns  can  be  success- 
fully tried  out.  The  greater  the  degree  of 
preparedness  therefore  on  the  part  of  two 
great  and  ambitious  nations,  the  more  certain 
it  is  that  they  will  some  day  meet  in  deadly 
combat.  Piling  up  gunpowder  is  not  the  ideal 
way  of  preserving  permanent  tranquillity. 
Training  men  to  shoot  is  not  the  surest  method 
of  increasing  their  estimate  of  the  sacredness 
of  human  life,  or  of  exalting  in  their  minds 
the  ideals  of  reason  and  conscience. 

The  reason  why  preparedness  for  war  does 
not  prepare  for  peace  is  because  deadly  weap- 
ons create  an  atmosphere  of  suspicion  and 
fear.  A gun  in  the  hand  of  a child  fills  us 
with  alarm,  because  while  the  child  is  inno- 
cent of  any  intention  to  hurt  us,  we  do  not 
know  at  what  moment  he  might  through  awk- 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  213 

wardness,  or  love  of  mischief,  fire  it  off.  A 
man  whom  we  do  not  know  who  persists  in 
standing  in  front  of  our  house  with  a loaded 
gun  renders  us  uneasy,  and  he  does  not  lessen 
the  disquiet  within  us  by  assuring  us  that  he 
means  us  no  harm.  If  our  neighbor  next 
door  lays  in,  year  after  year,  fresh  stocks  of 
dynamite,  for  which  we  can  ascertain  no  legiti- 
mate use,  we  become  afraid  of  him  even 
though  he  is  voluble  in  protestations  of  friend- 
ship. The  more  sweetly  he  talks  the  more 
suspicious  we  become,  provided  he  keeps  on 
increasing  his  stock  of  explosives.  All  the 
peace  talk  on  the  part  of  rulers  and  diplomats 
indulged  in  through  the  last  forty  years 
amounted  to  nothing,  for  the  reason  that  the 
nations  which  spoke  peace  were  all  the  time 
preparing  for  war.  Every  time  a statesman 
declared  anew  the  friendly  feeling  of  his 
countrymen  toward  the  people  across  the 
line,  both  countries  at  once  ordered  more  guns. 
The  Hague  Conferences  said  many  sensible 
and  amiable  things,  but  they  were  followed  in 
each  case  by  a universal  increase  in  armament. 


214  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

When  one  nation  prepares,  its  neighbors  be- 
come alarmed,  and  when  they  prepare,  the  first 
nation  being  frightened,  prepares  still  more 
thoroughly.  The  greater  the  degree  of  pre- 
paredness the  greater  of  course  the  alarm. 
Military  efficiency  in  one  nation  puts  other 
nations  at  its  mercy,  and  if  that  efficiency 
is  pushed  to  the  highest  possible  notch, 
there  is  created  an  almost  international 
panic.  Germany  under  the  leadership  of 
Prussia  has  since  the  Franco-Prussian  war 
developed  her  army  into  a machine  the 
most  efficient  known  in  history.  The  effect 
of  that  efficiency  created  consternation  not 
only  in  France,  but  later  on  in  Russia,  and  as 
soon  as  Germany  began  to  add  to  her  indomi- 
table army  a formidable  fleet,  then  the  fear 
seized  upon  Great  Britain,  and  out  of  the  fear 
of  these  three  nations  came  at  first  the  dual  al- 
liance and  later  the  triple  entente,  and  out  of 
these  came  still  later  the  war  of  ten  nations. 
Every  forward  step  made  by  Germany  in  mili- 
tary preparedness  drove  France  and  Russia 
and  Great  Britain  closer  together.  And  the 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  215 

closer  they  came  together  the  more  alarmed 
Germany  became,  and  the  more  necessary  it 
was  that  she  should  carry  her  preparedness  to 
a still  higher  pitch  of  perfection.  In  spite, 
however,  of  this  lesson  written  lurid  on  the 
sky  by  battle  fire,  there  are  Americans  even 
yet  blind  enough  to  keep  on  saying : “ Are 

we  to  be  unready  or  ready  for  a possible  foe? 
If  ready,  we  are  less  likely  to  have  the  foe.” 
Germany  made  for  herself  a ring  of  enemies 
simply  by  her  phenomenal  preparations  for 
war,  and  the  United  States  by  a similar  pro- 
gram can  do  the  same  thing. 

But  somebody  asks,  “ Is  not  an  army  or  a 
navy  a police  force,  and  can  the  world  get  on 
without  policemen?  Would  you  be  willing  to 
have  the  police  force  of  your  city  disbanded 
and  place  the  city  at  the  mercy  of  the  rowdies 
and  toughs?”  A brilliant  writer  has  said  in 
one  of  his  often  quoted  volumes : “ An  army 

and  navy  are  no  more  an  incitement  to  war 
among  reasonable  men  than  a policeman  is  an 
incentive  to  burglary  or  homicide.”  Only  a 


216  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

man  who  is  caught  in  the  meshes  of  the  fal- 
lacious assumption  that  a gigantic  army  is  a 
police  force,  could  ever  write  such  nonsense 
as  that.  The  huge  armies  and  navies  of  our 
modern  world  are  not  police  forces,  and  it  is 
amazing  that  any  man  capable  of  thinking 
should  imagine  that  they  are.  A police  force 
exists  solely  to  maintain  order.  A police 
force  is  never  created  either  for  the  purpose 
of  aggression  or  defense.  Policemen  in  one 
city  are  not  employed  to  resist  an  attack  from 
a neighboring  city.  When  cities  make  out 
their  police  budgets,  they  do  not  carefully 
count  the  number  of  policemen  in  cities  near 
by  or  far  away.  Policemen  have  for  their 
sole  function  the  maintenance  of  order.  One 
of  their  chief  tasks  is  to  direct  traffic  in 
crowded  streets,  another  is  to  give  strangers 
needed  information,  another  is  to  help  school 
children  across  dangerous  thoroughfares,  an- 
other is  to  render  assistance  to  those  who  may 
be  injured  by  a runaway  horse,  or  run  over 
by  an  automobile.  Their  presence  awes  mis- 
chievous boys  into  decorum,  and  when  a man 


Fallacies  of  Militarism,  21 7 

breaks  the  law  it  is  the  policeman  who  lays  his 
hand  upon  the  culprit  and  carries  him  into 
court.  Up  to  a certain  point  an  army  or  a 
navy  is  a police  force,  for  up  to  a certain  point 
it  exists  for  the  preservation  of  order.  Our 
nation  could  not  well  get  on  without  a small 
army,  for  there  is  always  some  sort  of  work 
which  trained  soldiers  are  best  fitted  to  per- 
form. Insurrections  are  likely  to  break  out 
now  and  then  in  our  great  cities,  and  when- 
ever they  pass  beyond  the  control  of  the  local 
authorities  the  United  States  Army  performs 
a needed  service.  In  times  of  great  calamity 
like  the  San  Francisco  fire  or  the  Galveston 
tidal  wave,  or  the  Mississippi  floods,  there 
is  work  for  soldiers  to  do.  We  shall  always 
need  soldiers  as  policemen,  and  therefore  we 
shall  always  need  a small  army.  There  is 
work  for  a navy  to  do  in  years  of  peace.  Cer- 
tain kinds  of  national  business  can  be  best 
transacted  by  naval  officers.  Ships  of  war 
are  needed  to  hold  in  check  the  rowdies  of  the 
sea,  called  pirates.  It  is  for  the  navy  to  keep 
traffic  regulations  on  the  seas  from  being  dis- 


218  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

regarded  by  vessels  commanded  by  individuals 
who  would,  unless  curbed,  pay  no  attention  to 
international  law.  There  are  sections  of  the 
world  where  law  is  not  yet  firmly  established, 
and  where  the  danger  of  popular  uprisings  is 
imminent,  and  so  the  United  States  must  have 
a few  gunboats  which  can  in  time  of  crisis  be 
anchored  in  the  harbors  of  distant  cities  which 
have  for  the  moment  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
a mob  which  might  murder  American  citizens 
residing  there.  Nobody  denies  the  need  of  a 
small  army  and  a small  navy,  nor  does  any- 
body dispute  that  armies  and  navies  have  po- 
lice functions  which  are  essential  to  the  well- 
ordering of  the  world’s  life.  But  the  mili- 
tarists, seizing  upon  this  undoubted  truth,  ex- 
ploit it  in  unwarranted  ways,  and  endeavor  to 
make  it  seem  that  an  army  or  navy,  however 
colossal,  is  nothing  but  a police  force.  Armies 
and  navies  as  the  world  to-day  knows  them  are 
only  incidentally  police  forces.  They  are 
built  for  other  purposes.  They  are  for  ag- 
gression and  defense.  They  are  huge  ma- 
chines for  fighting  duels.  Their  purpose  is 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  219 

not  to  bring  nations  to  justice  but  to  crush 
nations  which  give  offense.  They  are  not  sup- 
ported to  attend  to  traffic  or  to  maintain  or- 
der on  land  or  sea.  They  are  supported  for 
the  purpose  of  overwhelming  similar  aggre- 
gations of  fighting  strength  which  may  be 
brought  against  them.  It  is  a degradation  of 
the  word  police  to  apply  it  to  the  swollen 
armies  and  navies  which  disgrace  modern 
civilization.  Policemen  have  useful  work  to 
do.  Every  day  they  render  a service  to  the 
city  which  makes  it  a better  place  to  live  in. 
But  what  service  can  a standing  army  of 
500,000  or  a million  men  render  to  a nation 
commensurate  with  the  expense  of  supporting 
it?  Year  after  year  these  men  give  them- 
selves solely  to  military  drill,  preparing  for  a 
war  which  may  never  come.  Their  life  is 
full  of  monotony  and  tedium,  their  only  in- 
struments are  instruments  of  blood,  their  only 
thoughts  which  lie  in  the  line  of  their  calling 
are  thoughts  of  destruction  and  slaughter. 
Theirs  is  the  work  of  aggression  or  defense. 
They  are  always  in  their  imagination  attack- 


220  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

ing  and  overwhelming  some  foreign  nation. 
It  is  their  business  to  conjure  up  foes,  and 
to  conceive  plans  by  which  these  foes  may  be 
beaten.  The  atmosphere  in  which  a police- 
man lives  is  not  the  atmosphere  of  the  soldier. 
The  professional  soldier  lives  in  a world  in 
which  the  great  word  is  “ honor,”  and  where 
patriotism  is  made  synonymous  with  the  senti- 
ment “ my  country,  right  or  wrong,”  and 
where  a certain  snobbishness  and  impatience 
are  developed  which  express  themselves  in 
brag  and  ultimatums.  A man  who  says  that 
“ an  army  or  navy  are  no  more  an  incitement 
to  war  than  a policeman  is  an  incentive  to 
burglary  or  homicide  ” is  throwing  dust  into 
the  eyes  of  those  he  sets  himself  up  to  instruct. 
Policemen  do  not  spend  their  time  in  scheming 
to  overthrow  other  policemen,  nor  do  they 
drink  toasts  to  “ the  Day,”  nor  do  they  write 
for  the  Sunday  papers  articles  calling  for  an 
ever  larger  number  of  policemen.  Policemen 
do  not  squander  their  years  in  drilling,  nor 
do  they  live  and  move  and  have  their  being  in 
the  world  of  brute  force. 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  221 

I have  never  seen  in  Europe  sights  sadder 
or  more  tragic  than  the  spectacle  presented  by 
her  gorgeous  military  processions.  I am  al- 
ways haunted  by  the  faces  of  the  soldiers  of 
the  armies  I have  seen.  O the  wasted  years, 
the  squandered  lives,  the  souls  that  are  sacri- 
ficed ! When  will  the  rulers  and  statesmen  of 
Europe  find  pardon  for  the  lives  they  have 
thrown  away,  not  simply  in  time  of  war,  but 
in  the  long  years  of  armed  peace ! I can  never 
enjoy  a military  parade,  made  up  of  men 
doomed  to  military  service.  The  glitter  of 
the  steel,  and  the  bright  colors  of  the  uniform, 
and  the  flash  of  the  gold  braid,  and  the  rhythm 
of  movement  are  not  sufficient  to  blot  out  the 
blankness  of  the  human  faces,  and  to  drive 
from  my  heart  the  vision  of  what  these  men 
might  be  and  do  if  they  were  not  being  sac- 
rificed on  the  altar  which  was  raised  centuries 
ago  to  a pagan  god  called  Mars. 

One  of  the  most  adroit  of  all  the  schemes 
adopted  for  the  befuddling  of  the  mind  is  the 
skillful  use  of  the  word  “ if.”  For  instance, 


222  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

“ if  an  army  of  200,000  Japanese  should  be 
landed  some  day  on  the  coast  of  California, 
then  what?  ” “ If  a German  army  of  100,000 
should  be  landed  to-morrow  on  the  coast  of 
New  Jersey,  what  would  you  do?”  “If  a 
foreign  nation  should  march  through  Canada 
to  attack  us,  then  what?  ” This  is  a form  of 
argument  which  many  are  not  able  to  resist. 
“ Much  virtue  in  if,”  as  Touchstone  declared 
long  ago.  Of  all  the  words  in  the  militarist 
vocabulary  no  one  has  greater  potency  than 
“ if" 

But  let  us  not  forget  that  the  pacifist  also 
has  a right  to  use  the  word  “ if.”  He  too  can 
conjure  up  various  situations  which  are  ap- 
palling. For  instance,  if  a comet  should 
sweep  its  poisonous  tail  in  the  face  of  New 
York  City,  and  leave  its  tail  lying  there  for 
sixty  days,  what  would  New  York  do?  If 
a meteor  a hundred  miles  in  diameter  should 
fall  on  Chicago,  what  would  become  of  that 
city?  If  one  of  the  stars  should  break  loose 
from  its  orbit  and  come  in  collision  with  our 
planet,  what  would  happen?  There  is  no 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  223 

end  of  the  horrible  possibilities  which  the  im- 
agination can  think  of,  but  before  we  are 
daunted  by  the  word  “ if,”  we  should  look 
behind  it,  and  see  if  it  is  any  more  than  a 
bugaboo.  If  Japan  should  land  200,000  sol- 
diers on  the  coast  of  California,  there  would 
be  indeed  serious  embarrassment,  at  first  for 
us,  and  later  on  for  the  Japanese.  But  why 
think  of  that  before  we  ask  the  question,  why 
should  the  Japanese  come?  Are  they  able  to 
come?  Have  they  thought  of  coming?  Do 
they  want  to  come?  Have  they  reason  for 
coming?  Are  they  likely  to  want  to  come? 
These  are  the  only  questions  with  which  sensi- 
ble men  care  to  deal.  If  the  Japanese  have 
no  reason  for  coming,  if  they  have  laid  no 
plans  to  come,  if  it  has  never  entered  their 
mind  to  come,  then  why  should  we,  when  we 
have  so  many  urgent  things  to  attend  to,  waste 
our  time  on  a purely  fanciful  problem?  A 
child  can  scare  himself  into  a fit  simply  by 
imagining  a ghost,  but  when  we  become  men 
we  ought  to  put  away  childish  things.  And 
as  for  some  European  nation  landing  on  the 


224  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

Atlantic  seaboard  and  capturing  New  York, 
Philadelphia  and  Boston,  all  our  chief  coal 
fields,  and  all  our  gun  factories  before  we 
know  it,  that  is  the  sort  of  vision  which  a 
naval  architect  sees,  and  that  is  the  kind  of 
a dream  which  inventors  of  guns  dream. 
There  is  no  limit  to  the  foolishness  of  the  hu- 
man mind  when  men  give  reins  to  a disor- 
dered imagination.  There  are  at  least  a hun- 
dred questions  which  ought  to  be  studied  and 
answered  before  we  take  up  the  question  as  to 
what  we  could  do  if  a foreign  nation  landed 
an  immense  army  on  our  coast.  We  must  ask 
how  they  could  do  it,  3000  miles  from  home, 
and  why  they  should  want  to  do  it,  and  if  as 
yet  they  have  exhibited  a disposition  to  do  it, 
and  what  they  could  possibly  hope  to  gain 
even  if  they  did  do  it.  If  no  nation  has  ever 
threatened  to  do  it,  or  ever  conceived  the  idea 
of  doing  it,  or  has  any  conceivable  reason  for 
wanting  to  do  it,  then  why  should  we  work 
ourselves  into  hysterics  over  our  appalling  un- 
preparedness ? Some  men  say  we  lie  at  the 
mercy  of  Europe.  Well,  we  have  been  lying 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  225 

that  way  for  a long  time,  why  not  try  it  an- 
other hundred  years  ? They  say  that  our 
wealth  invites  attack.  Why  then  have  nations 
been  slow  in  accepting  the  invitation?  We 
have  been  wealthy  a long  time.  They  say  that 
a foreign  nation  could  easily  take  our  large 
coast  cities.  Well,  what  would  it  do  with 
them  after  it  got  them?  Suppose  that  200,- 
000  soldiers  land  on  our  shore,  what  would 
they  do  here?  They  would  feel  very  uncom- 
fortable even  at  the  first,  and  their  discom- 
fort would  not  grow  less  with  time. 

Look  at  Belgium  ! says  a distinguished  Amer- 
ican militarist  who  might  have  made  himself 
the  peerless  leader  of  the  young  men  of  Amer- 
ica, and  who  alas,  has  thrown  away  the  great- 
est opportunity  which  God  has  given  to  any 
American  in  our  generation.  To  see  a man 
endowed  with  extraordinary  gifts  turning  his 
face  toward  the  past  is  one  of  the  most  tragic 
sights  which  this  world  affords.  Look  at  Bel- 
gium ! he  cries.  Why  should  we  look  at  Bel- 
gium? He  wants  us  to  look  at  it  in  order 


226  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

that  we  may  buy  more  guns.  Why?  Be- 
cause the  very  thing  that  has  happened  to 
Belgium  may  happen  to  us.  To  be  sure,  Bel- 
gium is  a little  country.  Its  area  is  less  than 
12,000  square  miles,  about  one  quarter  of  our 
Empire  State,  not  one  twentieth  the  size  of  the 
state  of  Texas.  We  have  an  area  of  3,616,- 
000  square  miles,  but  what  happened  to  Bel- 
gium may  just  as  easily  happen  to  us!  It  is 
as  likely  that  a nation  covering  three  and  a 
half  million  square  miles  shall  be  stepped  on  as 
it  is  that  a nation  with  less  than  12,000  square 
miles  shall  be  so  treated.  Belgium  has  a pop- 
ulation of  less  than  8,000,000,  the  United 
States  has  a population  of  one  hundred  mil- 
lion. But  this  makes  no  difference  in  the  risk. 
A nation  of  a hundred  millions  is  just  as 
readily  trampled  on  as  a nation  less  than  one 
twelfth  of  its  size  “ Look  at  Belgium ! ” 
She  is  wedged  in  between  a mighty  empire 
and  a great  republic  which  are  hereditary 
foes.  When  either  of  them  wishes  to  strike 
at  the  other  the  temptation  is  to  strike  over 
Belgium’s  head.  The  little  kingdom  is  so  in 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  227 

the  way  that  when  its  huge  neighbors  fall  to 
fighting  it  is  impossible  for  Belgium  to  es- 
cape. America  holds  the  full  sweep  of  a 
broad  continent.  God  has  spread  his  two 
mightiest  oceans  at  her  eastern  and  western 
doors.  Instead  of  being  crowded  in  between 
hereditary  foes  she  stands  forth  isolated,  in- 
dependent, free.  To  hold  up  Belgium  as  an 
illustration  of  what  is  likely  to  come  to  us  un- 
less we  squander  additional  millions  on  guns, 
is  as  sensible  as  to  say : “ I noticed  yonder 

man  stepped  on  an  ant,  be  careful,  he  will  next 
step  on  you.” 

“ Look  at  China,”  the  same  wise  man  ex- 
claims. By  all  means  let  us  look  at  her.  She 
has  suffered  many  things.  Rapacious  and  un- 
scrupulous nations  have  more  than  once  in- 
sulted her,  and  stolen  some  of  her  possessions. 
They  could  do  this  because  they  carried  arms. 
But  for  nations  to  rob  is  disgraceful,  and  the 
disgrace  is  not  on  China  but  on  the  nations 
that  have  done  her  wrong.  If  wearing  heavy 
armor  atrophies  the  conscience  of  nations  we 
have  an  additional  argument  against  the  policy 


228  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

of  the  nations  which  have  sold  themselves  to 
Mars.  Let  us  look  at  China.  She  is  yet 
alive.  She  has  lived  through  the  storms  of 
4000  years.  All  the  other  nations  of  antiquity 
have  gone  to  pieces.  They  all  took  the  sword 
and  they  all  perished  by  the  sword.  China 
the  one  peaceful  nation  alone  survives.  Look 
at  China ! She  is  proof  that  the  nation  which 
refuses  to  trust  to  force  is  unconquerable. 
She  has  been  invaded,  but  so  was  Nineveh, 
and  so  were  Babylon  and  Egypt  and  Greece 
and  Persia  and  Rome.  All  military  nations 
are  sooner  or  later  invaded,  and  all  without 
exception  go  down  at  last  in  blood.  No  em- 
pire has  ever  gone  to  death  except  to  the 
strains  of  martial  music.  Look  at  China! 
But  some  one  says : “ She  is  alive,  but  what 
does  her  life  amount  to?  She  has  made  no 
progress.  She  has  contributed  little  to  the 
civilization  of  the  world.  Better  live  like 
Greece  and  Rome,  Egypt  and  Persia,  and  add 
something  to  the  treasures  of  the  world  even 
though  life  be  short,  than  live  a quiescent, 
vegetative,  ineffectual  life  like  China,  doing 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  229 

little  to  advance  the  progress  of  the  race.” 

But  China  is  not  what  she  is  in  thought  and 
life  because  of  her  lack  of  military  ambition; 
her  present  condition  is  due  to  the  absence  of 
the  ideals  which  have  made  Europe  glorious. 
China  for  centuries  was  shut  out  from  Chris- 
tianity. That  is  the  explanation  of  the  re- 
tardation of  her  life.  Europe  owes  her  pres- 
tige to  the  mighty  stimulus  which  was  given  to 
her  by  the  religion  of  Jesus.  Wherever  the 
gospel  is  preached  the  intellect  is  quickened 
and  the  heart  is  expanded  and  humanity  moves 
forward.  Europe  has  gotten  on  not  because 
of  her  fighting,  but  in  spite  of  it.  Had  she 
never  fought  she  would  be  far  beyond  where 
she  now  is.  In  spite  of  the  loss  of  treasure 
and  blood  in  her  numberless  wars,  she  has, 
because  of  the  marvelous  generosity  and  for- 
giveness of  God,  been  able  to  press  forward, 
so  mighty  is  the  force  of  the  ideas  given  her 
by  Jesus.  It  is  not  Christianity  which  has 
made  Europe  belligerent.  Her  fighting  tem- 
per was  an  inheritance  from  the  pagan  past. 
She  has  always  been  cursed  by  the  military 


230  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

ideals  inherited  from  ancient  Rome.  She  has 
for  centuries  been  harassed  and  handicapped 
by  the  military  traditions  which  ruled  the 
tribes  of  Europe  before  the  religion  of  Christ 
found  them.  When  men  say : “ Look  at 

China ! That  is  what  you  come  to  if  you  dis- 
parage war,  that  is  the  doom  that  overtakes 
you  if  you  refuse  to  exalt  the  soldier,”  they 
are  dropping  out  of  consideration  the  supreme 
fact  that  China  has  for  centuries  been  in  the 
grip  of  Confucius,  while  Europe  has  from  the 
fourth  century  been  stimulated  and  developed 
by  the  life  giving  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God. 

Yes,  look  at  China,  but  remember  the  end 
is  not  yet.  You  must  wait  to  see  what  China 
will  be  when  she  becomes  Christian.  All  stu- 
dents of  our  modern  world  confess  she  is  the 
coming  nation  of  the  East.  They  often  call 
her  the  sleeping  giant.  They  acknowledge 
that  she  has  in  her  life  forces  which  are  sure 
to  modify  and  possibly  to  revolutionize  the 
civilization  of  the  world.  What  China  may 
yet  accomplish  if  she  opens  her  great  heart  to 
Christ  no  man  can  possibly  conceive.  Who 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  231 

knows  what  beautiful  thing  God  has  kept  in 
store  for  her  because  she  has  never  trusted 
to  the  sword.  David  was  not  allowed  to  build 
the  temple  in  Jerusalem  because  his  hands 
were  stained  with  blood.  It  may  be  that  the 
so-called  great  Christian  powers  will  not  be 
permitted  to  build  the  structure  of  the  coming 
world  because  the  hands  of  all  of  them  are 
red.  Who  knows  but  what  God  himself  may 
say  with  pride  on  the  Judgment  Day,  “ Look 
at  China ! ” 

But  must  we  not  have  an  adequate  navy? 
To  be  sure  we  must,  provided  we  can  find  out 
what  an  adequate  navy  is.  Nobody  knows. 
Nobody  can  find  out.  The  word  adequate  is 
one  of  the  words  with  which  the  militarist 
works  his  tricks.  We  all  know  what  the  ad- 
jective means  when  we  speak  of  an  adequate 
definition  or  an  adequate  cause  or  an  adequate 
compensation,  and  therefore  we  assume  that 
we  know  what  an  adequate  navy  is.  It  is  at 
that  point  that  we  fall  into  the  militarist’s 
clutches.  He  does  not  define  the  word,  he 


232  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

simply  puts  it  on  our  lips  and  lets  it  do  its 
fatal  work.  What  is  an  adequate  navy  ? One 
that  is  sufficient,  satisfactory,  equal  to  its  task. 
What  is  its  task?  An  adequate  navy,  some 
one  says,  is  one  which  would  be  strong  enough 
to  prevent  attack,  or  repel  invasion,  or  to 
save  the  nation  from  humiliating  defeat.  Now 
it  is  not  possible  to  get  a navy  large  enough 
to  prevent  attack.  No  matter  how  small  a 
nation  is  or  how  poor,  it  will  attack  the  mighti- 
est empire  that  ever  was,  provided  that  empire 
does  it  wrong.  If  we  ever  do  a nation  wrong 
we  may  rest  assured  we  shall  be  attacked. 

Nor  can  we  have  a navy  large  enough  to 
prevent  invasion.  We  have  24,000  miles  of 
coast  line,  and  we  cannot  build  ships  enough 
to  keep  a foreign  nation  off  our  soil  if  it  once 
determined  to  invade  us.  The  navy  then  that 
is  adequate  must  be  one  mighty  enough  to 
save  ourselves  from  humiliating  disaster. 
How  large  would  that  be?  Nobody  knows. 
One  man  says,  it  must  be  large  enough  to  de- 
stroy the  German  navy,  but  another  man  says 
it  must  be  large  enough  to  cope  with  the  navy 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  233 

of  Great  Britain.  Unless  ours  is  the  largest 
of  all  the  navies,  we  can  never  be  master  of 
the  seas.  Of  what  use  is  it  to  have  a second 
best  navy  ? Germany  has  the  second  best 
navy  to-day,  yet  that  navy  is  not  able  to  pre- 
vent German  commerce  from  being  completely 
swept  from  off  the  seas.  It  is  not  able  to 
prevent  Great  Britain  landing  troops  on 
French  and  Belgian  soil.  Germany  stands  im- 
potent upon  the  sea  because  her  navy  is  only 
second  best.  An  adequate  navy  then  for 
America  must  be  the  mightiest  fleet  afloat.  It 
must  outclass  that  of  Great  Britain.  But  even 
then  it  would  not  be  adequate,  for  Great  Brit- 
ain has  an  ally  in  the  distant  East,  and  that 
ally  helps  Great  Britain  in  her  times  of  need. 
So  that  to  have  a navy  equal  to  the  task  of 
insuring  us  against  defeat,  we  should  have  to 
build  a navy  equal  to  those  of  Great  Britain 
and  Japan  combined.  And  even  then  our 
navy  would  be  inadequate,  for  Great  Britain 
is  to-day  leagued  with  France  and  Russia,  and 
may  be  leagued  with  them  again,  so  that  to 
have  a navy  genuinely  adequate  we  should 


234  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

have  to  own  a navy  equal  to  the  combined 
navies  of  the  world.  Men  prattle  about  the 
necessity  of  providing  for  “ every  possible  con- 
tingency,” not  knowing  what  they  say.  Only 
lunatics  ever  think  of  considering  every  possi- 
ble contingency.  Sensible  men  are  content 
with  probabilities.  It  is  by  considering  prob- 
abilities and  not  possibilities  that  we  are  able 
to  live  our  life.  It  is  possible  that  if  I walk 
near  the  curbstone  an  automobile  may  run  up 
and  kill  me.  More  than  once  such  an  accident 
has  happened.  But  I cannot  walk  close  to  the 
buildings  for  a loosened  stone  may  fall  down 
and  crush  me.  Such  an  accident  has  often 
happened.  If  I walk  in  the  center  of  the  pave- 
ment a mad  dog  may  rush  up  and  bite  me. 
Many  a man  has  lost  his  life  in  that  way. 
If  I consider  possibilities  I shall  never  go  out 
of  the  house  at  all.  Men  cannot  guard  them- 
selves against  every  conceivable  contingency. 
A man  may  stab  you  in  the  back  or  side,  and 
therefore  you  must  case  your  body  in  armor. 
A drunken  man  may  throw  acid  in  your  face. 
You  must  therefore  wear  a helmet  with  a 


Fallacies  of  Militarism,  235 

vizor.  Life  becomes  unendurable  the  moment 
we  set  to  work  to  provide  for  every  eventu- 
ality. 

The  life  of  nations  is  equally  impossible,  if 
you  follow  the  life  of  the  militarist  mono- 
maniacs who  chatter  ceaselessly  about  the  ne- 
cessity of  providing  for  every  possible  con- 
tingency. Long  brooding  on  guns  and  war- 
fare has  made  them  mad.  They  are  victims 
of  distressing  hallucinations.  They  are  tor- 
tured by  infernal  delusions.  They  are  willing 
that  a nation  should  use  up  all  its  income  on 
means  of  defense.  They  advocate  policies 
which  lead  to  national  bankruptcy,  feeling  like 
many  other  insane  men,  that  they  are  pos- 
sessed of  superior  wisdom.  How  large  an 
army  ought  the  United  States  to  maintain? 
One  man  says  125,000  and  the  next  man 
laughs  at  him,  asserting  that  nothing  less  than 
200,000  will  answer.  The  third  man  is  amazed 
at  such  a paltry  number,  and  suggests  300,000 
as  the  minimum.  A fourth  man  laughs  loud 
at  such  niggardly  conservatism,  and  declares 
that  half  a million  men  are  none  too  many. 


236  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

The  next  man,  still  better  posted  in  regard  to 
our  national  needs,  assures  us  that  a million 
men  would  be  quite  moderate,  considering  our 
size  and  wealth  and  danger.  If  I were  a mili- 
tarist I should  say  two  million  at  the  lowest, 
and  that  three  million  would  be  better.  It  is 
only  when  you  get  into  the  millions  that  you 
approach  the  size  of  the  great  armies  of  Eu- 
rope. Why  have  an  army  at  all,  unless  you 
have  the  largest  and  best?  There  has  never 
yet  been  on  any  land  an  army  which  the  mili- 
tary experts  counted  adequate,  and  there  has 
never  been  on  any  sea  a fleet  which  the  naval 
experts  of  the  nation  possessing  it  considered 
sufficient.  The  only  definition  of  an  adequate 
navy  or  army  which  it  is  possible  to  write  is 
— It  is  an  army  or  navy  larger  than  the  one 
which  we  already  have.  When  the  militarist 
asks  you  to  subscribe  to  his  doctrine  of  an 
“ adequate  ” army  or  navy,  he  is  simply  ask- 
ing you  to  favor  an  increase  in  the  army  and 
naval  budgets. 


Somebody  says,  we  must  have  an  army  and 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  237 

navy  simply  for  defense.  “ Not  one  cent  for 
aggression,  but  as  many  millions  as  necessary 
for  defense,”  was  the  ejaculation  the  other 
day  of  an  enthusiastic  patriot  in  the  East. 
All  such  talk  is  stupid.  There  are  no  aggres- 
sive navies  or  armies  on  the  earth.  They  are 
all  defensive.  It  was  expressly  understood 
by  the  Parliaments  which  organized  and  built 
the  armies  and  navies  of  modern  Europe  that 
they  were  solely  for  defense.  Germany  has 
built  up  an  army  to  defend  herself,  and  Great 
Britain  has  led  the  world  in  dreadnoughts  in 
order  to  ward  off  attack.  Not  a cent  has  been 
wasted  by  any  European  nation  for  purposes 
of  aggression.  Every  nation  meekly  takes  up 
the  duty  of  providing  for  its  defense.  And  so 
this  is  a defensive  war.  All  the  nations  are 
fighting  in  defense.  Not  one  is  responsible 
for  the  war.  No  one  wanted  it.  No  one  has 
designs  of  aggression.  Every  nation  is  fight- 
ing for  the  defense  of  its  own  hearthstones 
and  fields.  If,  therefore,  we  launch  dread- 
noughts for  defense,  other  nations  will  also 
launch  other  dreadnoughts  for  defense,  and 


238  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

thus  the  wasting  and  demoralizing  game  will 
go  on.  The  man  who  talks  about  defense  with 
the  notion  that  by  the  use  of  that  word  he  can 
get  the  world  on,  is  a man  whom  experience 
can  teach  nothing.  We  might  as  well  say  dis- 
tinctly at  the  launching  of  each  new  American 
battleship:  “This  is  for  aggression.”  The 
effect  on  other  nations  would  be  the  same  as 
though  we  said:  “This  is  merely  for  de- 
fense.” The  ostrich  hides  his  little  head  in 
the  sand  and  thinks  his  body  is  invisible. 
The  militarized  and  duped  American  thinks 
he  can  favor  a navy  for  defense,  and  escape 
the  curse  by  which  Europe  has  been  over- 
whelmed. 

But  some  one  asks,  If  France  had  not  spent 
millions  on  her  armies  and  guns  and  forts, 
where  would  she  have  been  when  the  German 
army  started  for  Paris?  The  answer  is  that 
if  it  had  not  been  for  the  French  military  bus- 
tle and  the  loaning  of  French  millions  to  Rus- 
sia for  the  purchase  of  additional  guns,  the 
German  army  might  never  have  started  toward 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  239 

Paris.  When  men  say  where  would  Great 
Britain  be  to-day  if  she  had  not  built  up  the 
greatest  navy  in  the  world?  the  answer  is 
she  might  not  be  in  a great  war.  If  she  had 
not  insisted  on  the  right  to  dominate  all  the 
seas,  and  had  not  sung  so  loud  and  so  exult- 
ingly  “ Britannia  rule  the  wave,”  and  if  she 
had  not  claimed  the  right  of  seizure  of  private 
property  on  the  sea  in  time  of  war,  then  the 
whole  history  of  Europe  might  have  been  dif- 
ferent. So  long  as  Great  Britain  holds  her 
present  policy  she  has  got  to  have  her  navy, 
but  her  policy  must  be  changed  before  there 
can  be  permanent  peace  in  the  world.  So 
long  as  all  the  nations  of  Europe  have  their 
barbaric  policies  of  statesmanship,  just  so  long 
must  they  trust  to  bayonets  and  shells  for  pro- 
tection when  the  storm  which  they  have  cre- 
ated bursts  upon  them. 

Some  one  says,  “ If  the  other  nations  of 
Europe  arm  themselves  from  crown  to  toe, 
then  we  must  arm  ourselves  too.  There  can 
be  no  reduction  in  armaments  until  all  agree 
to  act  together.  One  nation  cannot  run  the 


240  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

risk  of  being  trampled  on  by  its  armed  neigh- 
bors. Our  policy  must  be  determined  solely 
by  the  policy  of  Europe.”  If  this  be  so,  then 
it  behooves  us  to  throw  the  entire  weight  of 
our  republic  into  the  movement  for  the  forma- 
tion of  a League  of  Peace.  Universal  reduc- 
tion in  armament  should  be  our  cry  day  and 
night.  It  should  ring  out  loud  and  clear  so 
that  the  nations  of  the  whole  earth  can  hear 
it.  Our  President  should  shout  it  and  every 
member  of  his  cabinet,  and  every  member  of 
Congress,  and  every  preacher  and  every  editor, 
and  every  college  president,  and  every  college 
professor,  and  every  college  student,  and  every 
other  man  of  influence  in  the  whole  land 
should  demand  that  the  hour  for  reduction  of 
armaments  has  come.  It  is  not  for  us  at  this 
time  to  be  talking  about  more  powder  and 
guns.  Our  business  is  to  give  our  entire 
thought  to  the  great  problem  of  bringing  the 
nations  into  an  agreement  to  lay  down  their 
arms.  But  suppose  Europe  will  not  listen? 
What  if  she  turns  a deaf  ear,  and  goes  on 
after  the  war  ends  in  her  old  policy  of  armed 


Fallacies  of  Militarism  241 

peace,  then  what  should  our  policy  be?  It 
is  at  this  point  that  the  wisest  of  good  men 
disagree.  For  myself,  I would  say:  “Let 
America  go  alone.  Let  her  set  an  example. 
Let  her  exhibit  a courage  and  a faith  worthy 
of  a Christian  nation.”  If  you  say,  “ Ah, 
that  would  be  a great  risk,”  I admit  it,  but 
I hold  it  would  not  be  so  great  a risk  as  we 
run  in  building  up  a greater  army  and  a 
greater  navy.  When  so  many  nations  have 
taken  the  risks  of  war,  would  it  not  be  worth 
while  for  one  nation  to  take  the  risks  of  peace  ? 
Who  knows  what  might  happen  if  a great  re- 
public like  ours  should  take  a magnificent  risk 
for  God? 


VI 


What , then,  Shall  We  Do? 

We  come  to  the  end  of  our  journey. 
We  must  now  face  the  question  to  which  the 
course  of  our  thought  has  led  us.  What  shall 
we  do?  The  world  being  what  it  is,  what 
are  we  going  to  do  about  it?  In  a situation 
such  as  the  one  in  which  our  generation  finds 
itself,  what  can  one  do?  “The  end  of  life,” 
says  Carlyle,  “ is  not  a thought,  but  an  action.” 
The  end  of  a course  of  lectures  is  not  a 
thought,  or  a feeling,  or  an  aspiration,  but  a 
course  of  conduct.  My  work  is  not  done  until 
I attempt  to  answer  this  question : What  shall 
we  do?  It  is  not  enough  to  describe  a di- 
lemma. There  must  be  a suggestion  as  to 
how  to  deal  with  it.  It  will  never  do  to 
diagnose  a disease,  and  go  off  without  pre- 
scribing a remedy.  To  condemn  an  evil  is  fu- 
242 


What,  then,  Shall  We  Dot 


243 


tile  unless  a way  of  deliverance  is  pointed 
out.  He  who  helps  us  most  is  not  the  man 
who  can  picture  most  graphically  past  blun- 
ders or  present  distresses,  but  who  can  indi- 
cate the  path  along  which  our  feet  may  travel 
toward  better  and  brighter  days. 

The  first  feeling  which  seizes  one  on  con- 
templating the  international  situation  is  one 
of  helplessness.  What  can  I do?  The  an- 
swer is  obviously,  nothing.  We  sink  back  ex- 
hausted by  the  thought  of  our  own  impotency. 
What  can  any  one'  man  or  woman  do  to  change 
the  temper  or  the  habit  of  the  world?  What 
can  a score  of  men  or  a hundred  or  a thou- 
sand or  ten  thousand  do?  The  heart  loses 
hope  the  moment  we  ask  the  question, 
“ What  shall  we  do  ? What  can  anybody 
do  ? ” Have  not  good  people  been  trying  for 
centuries  to  make  war  impossible,  and  what 
have  they  accomplished?  Have  we  not  Peace 
Societies,  and  Peace  Foundations,  and  Church 
Peace  Unions,  and  International  Peace  Bu- 
reaus, and  Women’s  Peace  Federations,  and 
multitudinous  agencies  for  the  overthrow  of 


244  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

the  war  traders  and  the  war  makers,  but  what 
have  they  been  able  to  accomplish?  If  all 
these  have  proved  insufficient  to  meet  the  sit- 
uation, what  then  can  we  do? 

Many  of  us  do-  nothing  but  cultivate  emo- 
tions. We  feel  and  we  feel  intensely.  We 
feel  bad.  We  feel  mad.  We  blaze  with  in- 
dignation. We  groan.  We  cry  out  in  pain. 
But  that  is  all.  Our  feeling  simply  wears  us 
out.  It  does  not  accomplish  anything.  It 
makes  no  impression  on  the  policy  of  govern- 
ment. It  does  not  change  the  current  of  the 
life  of  the  world. 

Others  of  us  both  feel  and  speak.  We 
break  into  articulate  expression.  We  ex- 
claim. We  declaim.  We  criticise.  We  find 
fault.  We  indulge  in  good  round  full  toned 
denunciation.  But  what  do  we  accomplish? 
Congress  does  not  hear  us.  Those  who  sit 
in  high  places  do  not  heed  us.  The  world 
remains  what  it  was.  Some  of  us  are  prolific 
in  good  wishes.  We  overflow  with  them. 
We  wish  we  could  stop  the  war.  Of  course 
we  cannot.  We  wish  men  had  more  sense. 


What,  then,  Shall  We  Do? 


245 


They  have  not.  We  wish  we  were  President 
of  the  United  States.  We  are  not,  and  are  not 
likely  to  be.  We  wish  we  could  run  the  world 
for  a little  while,  but  God  is  not  willing  to 
trust  us.  And  thus  we  smother  ourselves  with 
our  wishes. 

There  is  no  end  of  good  wishes.  But  it 
must  be  confessed  that  good  wishes  are  not 
sufficient  to  redeem  a world.  Something 
tougher  and  more  dynamic  than  wishes  is  es- 
sential to  keep  the  world  on  the  path  that  leads 
to  life.  The  horrors  of  war  have  been  fre- 
quently painted  by  orators  and  artists,  its  bru- 
talities and  savageries  have  been  set  forth  by 
essayists  and  historians  for  many  a hundred 
years.  Of  its  unspeakable  horribleness  there 
can  now  remain  not  a vestige  of  doubt,  for 
the  present  war  with  a brush  of  fire  has  writ- 
ten its  atrocities  across  the  sky.  Only  an  im- 
becile can  go  on  now  prating  about  the  glory 
of  war.  But  shuddering  over  the  terrors  of 
war  is  not  sufficient  to  deliver  us  from  the 
grip  of  it.  We  may  say  with  unction  that 
war  is  hell,  but  saying  that  does  not  put  out 


246  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

the  flames  of  it.  That  is  the  weakness  of  too 
much  of  our  speaking  and  writing;  it  is  vivid 
in  adjectives,  but  is  not  rich  in  creative 
thought.  Reformers  tell  us  the  predicament 
into  which  we  have  fallen,  but  they  forget  to 
tell  us  how  to  get  out.  They  tear  to  tatters 
verbally  the  evil  which  they  lament,  but  they 
give  no  directions  as  to  how  the  evil  is  to  be 
abolished. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  practical  question: 
What  can  we  do  as  American  citizens  toward 
the  solution  of  this  greatest  of  world  prob- 
lems? It  is  evident  that  we  cannot  as  indi- 
viduals do  anything  directly  to  bring  pressure 
to  bear  upon  European  policy.  No  one  of  us, 
or  any  thousand  of  us,  can  by  word  or  deed 
modify  the  program  of  any  government  be- 
yond the  sea.  Whatever  we  do  we  must  do 
through  our  own  government,  and  what  we  do 
through  our  government  must  be  done  through 
the  people  whom  we  are  able  to  reach.  In  the 
long  run  our  officials  represent  the  sentiment 
and  ideals  of  the  voters.  We  cannot  get  our 
National  Congress  far  in  advance  of  the  aver- 


What , then,  Shall  We  Do? 


247 


age  sentiment  of  the  country.  Our  national 
policy  will  on  the  whole  reflect  quite  ac- 
curately the  thought  and  feeling  of  the  masses 
of  our  people. 

Here  then  is  the  place  to  begin.  We  must 
start  with  the  people,  with  that  particular 
group  of  people  who  happen  to  be  nearest 
to  us,  and  who  can  be  in  any  way  influenced 
by  us.  Every  man  has  influence,  and  can 
make  a mark  of  some  sort  on  the  minds  and 
lives  of  the  people  around  him.  Public  opin- 
ion is  the  real  ruler  of  this  country.  To-mor- 
row it  is  going  to  be  the  ruler  of  the  world. 
It  is  higher  than  Congresses  and  Parliaments, 
more  potent  than  Emperors  and  Kings.  This 
world  belongs  to  the  people,  and  soon  or  late 
they  are  going  to  rule  it.  Now  public  opinion 
is  formed  by  those  men  and  women  who  have 
ideas  and  who  dare  to  express  them.  Ideas 
are  impotent  unless  they  are  expressed.  As 
soon  as  they  are  expressed  they  drop  into 
human  minds  and  at  once  begin  their  work. 
They  are  seeds  and  like  seeds  they  sprout  and 
grow.  No  one  can  tell  what  a harvest  will 


248  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

ultimately  come  from  the  planting  of  an  idea. 

One  reason  why  the  practice  of  war  has 
continued  to  the  present  hour  is  because  the 
idea  of  war  has  been  made  glorious  to  the  im- 
agination. War  has  been  extolled  by  philos- 
ophers and  political  leaders  as  a school  of  the 
virtues,  a developer  of  that  which  is  finest  and 
strongest  in  a nation’s  life.  It  is  in  war,  wise 
men  have  repeatedly  said,  that  a man  has  the 
finest  opportunity  to  show  the  greatness  of  his 
soul.  It  is  only  by  war  that  nations  are  saved 
from  inertia  and  sloth  and  moral  decay.  This 
is  the  idea  that  has  been  set  forth  by  his- 
torians, and  spread  on  the  canvas  by  artists, 
and  embodied  in  song  by  poets,  and  glorified 
by  orators  in  their  loftiest  flights.  Young  men 
in  all  countries  have  been  trained  to  think 
of  patriotism  and  a gun  as  belonging  together, 
and  to  die  for  one’s  country  on  the  battlefield 
has  been  counted  the  supreme  manifestation 
of  human  nobility.  In  every  land,  war  has 
been  decked  out  with  lustrous  robes,  and  the 
soldier  has  been  placed  upon  a pedestal  denied 
to  the  civilian.  For  long  centuries  the  statues 


What,  then,  Shall  We  Do  f 


249 


were  largely  those  of  the  war  makers,  and 
the  most  interesting  of  the  biographies  were 
those  of  men  who  had  won  renown  upon  the 
battlefield. 

It  is  not  easy  to  take  down  an  ancient  ideal 
and  substitute  another  in  its  place.  To  do  this 
is  the  work  of  years.  It  is  a work  of  educa- 
tion, and  the  work  must  be  carried  on  in  all 
schools  throughout  the  country  from  the  low- 
est to  the  highest.  Not  only  must  there  be 
changes  in  the  text  books,  but  there  must  be 
changes  in  the  viewpoint  of  many  of  the  teach- 
ers. Many  teachers,  especially  in  our  colleges, 
are  wedded  to  pagan  ideals.  They  are  blind 
to  spiritual  realities.  They  possess  technical 
knowledge  within  narrow  circles,  but  they  do 
not  know  how  to  interpret  the  signs  of  the 
times.  It  must  be  shown  by  men  capable  of 
doing  it,  that  war  is  not  the  only  school  of 
patriotism,  or  the  supreme  school  of  virtue. 
The  hallucination  that  war  is  essential  to  na- 
tional or  individual  development  must  be  over- 
thrown by  men  who  see  facts  as  they  are. 
Struggle  is  indeed  necessary  for  human  de- 


250  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

velopment,  but  the  struggle  of  war  is  only  one 
form  of  struggle,  and  it  is  a form  whose  use- 
fulness has  long  since  been  outgrown.  The 
struggles  of  the  future  are  to  be  in  the  realm 
of  the  spirit.  Men  will  always  be  called  upon 
to  grapple  with  difficulties,  and  to  face  oppo- 
sition, but  the  struggle  wrought  out  by  bay- 
onets belongs  to  an  age  left  behind.  The 
moral  fiber  of  men  will  never  rot,  provided 
they  have  high  ideals  and  a determination  to 
attain  them.  The  heroism  displayed  m war 
is  not  so  splendid  as  that  which  is  nurtured  in 
peace.  There  is  in  peace  the  call  for  con- 
tinuous courage,  whereas  in  war  there  are  only 
a few  moments  when  a man  is  called  to  ex- 
hibit courage  of  a lofty  type.  In  peace  there 
is  no  excitement,  no  tumult  of  the  blood,  often 
no  heartening  sympathy  of  comrades  to  urge 
men  forward,  whereas  in  battle  men  are  car- 
ried on  by  the  mass  of  numbers  and  the  wild 
fury  of  the  hour.  It  must  be  shown  that  to 
save  men  is  a higher  form  of  service  than  to 
kill  them,  and  that  it  calls  for  the  exercise  of 
a larger  number  of  the  highest  faculties  of  the 


What,  then,  Shall  We  Do? 


251 


soul.  To  lift  a city  to  a higher  level  of 
thought  and  action  is  a more  difficult  piece  of 
work  and  demands  a finer  heroism  than  to 
level  it  by  means  of  howitzers.  To  cast  the 
evil  spirits  out  of  a city,  is  a more  hazardous 
undertaking  than  to  pour  upon  it  explosives 
from  the  sky.  The  work  of  dropping  bombs 
on  women  and  children  is  a bit  of  savagery, 
not  at  all  different  from  the  hellish  cruelty  of 
the  Indians  who  in  their  raids  scalped  women 
and  children  as  well  as  men.  There  will  come 
a time  when  all  the  arts  of  modern  warfare 
will  be  held  in  universal  detestation.  To  blow 
men  to  atoms  at  a distance  of  five  miles  is  not 
heroic.  To  drive  old  men  and  women  and 
invalids  into  the  fields  to  starve  is  not  chiv- 
alric.  To  raze  to  the  ground  the  homes  of 
peasants,  and  send  them  out  into  the  winter 
storms  is  not  an  exhibition  of  nobility.  The 
men  who  do  these  things  will  not  stand  on 
pedestals  in  that  better  time  toward  which  the 
world’s  face  is  set. 

It  must  be  made  clear  to  all  American  youth 
that  the  dangers  of  the  Republic  are  not  with- 


252  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

out,  but  within.  Our  deadliest  foes  are  not 
beyond  the  sea,  but  within  our  own  cities. 
The  enemies  which  we  have  most  to  fear  are 
ignorance,  and  greed,  and  drunkenness,  and 
lust,  and  cruelty,  and  irreverence,  and  dis- 
honesty, and  lawlessness,  and  wild  blasts  of 
ungovernable  mob-passion.  Against  these, 
siege  guns  are  no  protection,  nor  can  they  be 
guarded  against  by  fleets  in  the  sky.  We 
must  root  out  the  notion  that  a nation  is  de- 
fended by  battleships  or  battalions,  and  must 
make  it  clear  that  a nation’s  safest  and  last 
defenses  are  the  spirit  and  character  of  its 
people. 

Man  is  by  nature  a fighting  animal.  The 
military  instincts  are  planted  in  him.  He  is 
built  for  the  express  purpose  of  fighting  his 
way.  All  real  life  is  warfare,  and  man’s  bel- 
ligerent instincts  must  be  trained  to  fight  the 
battles  of  the  Lord.  To  the  end  of  time  men 
must  continue  to  be  good  soldiers,  but  the 
weapons  of  their  warfare  will  not  be  carnal. 
There  are  swords  sharper  than  steel,  and  there 
are  forces  more  efficient  than  the  mightiest  of 


What,  then,  Shall  We  Do? 


253 


the  explosives.  A Harvard  professor  wrote  a 
siiggestive  essay  once  on  “ Moral  equivalents 
for  war.”  The  best  of  all  equivalents  is  a 
faithful  Christian  life.  The  supreme  school 
of  virtue  is  the  school  of  the  Son  of  God.  It 
is  the  academy  of  patriotism.  It  is  the  uni- 
versity of  courage. 

The  time  has  come  when  we  must  make  war 
upon  war  with  a boldness  of  attack  and  a 
tenacity  of  purpose  which  has  never  heretofore 
been  displayed.  They  are  in  error  who  im- 
agine that  Christian  virtue  is  passive.  The 
non-resistance  which  the  New  Testament  in- 
culcates does  not  lie  down  and  do  nothing. 
It  is  the  most  vigorous  and  daring  of  all  forms 
of  aggression.  Jesus  resisted  evil  at  all  points 
and  with  all  his  might.  He  said : “ I must  go 
to  Jerusalem.”  Why?  Because  in  Jerusalem 
the  foes  were  the  mightiest  and  it  was  there 
that  the  fiercest  of  all  the  battles  had  to  be 
fought.  He  had  to  go  to  the  capital,  and  that 
is  where  we  must  go.  He  went  there  to  drive 
out  the  miscreants  who  were  defiling  the  na- 
tional life  at  its  fountain,  and  it  is  in  Wash- 


254  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

ington  City  that  we  must  meet  and  overthrow 
the  men  who  are  squandering  the  wealth  and 
jeopardizing  the  stability  of  the  American  Re- 
public. 

The  European  War  was  made  inevitable  by 
the  foolish  thinking  and  exasperating  action 
of  a few  classes  of  men.  The  masses  of  Eu- 
rope are  amiable  and  peace-loving  people. 
The  Slav  does  not  thirst  for  the  blood  of  the 
Teuton,  nor  does  the  Teuton  long  to  slaughter 
the  Slav.  The  German  does  not  aspire  to  slay 
the  Englishman,  nor  does  the  Englishman 
nourish  the  ambition  to  crush  the  German. 
The  war  was  made  inevitable  by  the  long  con- 
tinued scheming  and  plotting  of  industrious 
companies  of  mischief  makers.  It  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  see  just  who  they  were,  and  every  class 
of  mischief  maker  in  Europe  is  represented  in 
our  own  country.  If  allowed  to  carry  out 
their  plans,  they  will  bring  us  to  the  same 
abyss  into  which  Europe  has  fallen.  Let  us 
take  a square  look  at  these  makers  of  trouble. 

First  of  all,  we  must  deal  with  our  mili- 
tary and  naval  officers  — not  all  of  them,  but 


What , then , Shall  We  Do? 


255 


with  those  who  set  themselves  up  as  instruc- 
tors of  the  nation  and  dictators  of  national 
policy.  There  are  men  in  the  United  States 
army  and  navy  who  need  to  be  reminded  that 
they  are  officers  of  the  government,  and  that 
it  is  not  becoming  in  them  to  carry  on  a cease- 
less propaganda  for  the  aggrandizement  of 
the  military  and  naval  establishments.  Some 
of  these  men  are  incessantly  talking,  and  oth- 
ers are  everlastingly  writing.  They  draw 
large  salaries  from  the  government  for  one 
form  of  duty,  and  then  devote  their  time  to 
business  for  which  they  are  not  employed. 
The  loquacity  of  a few  of  them  is  exasper- 
ating. They  are  always  whispering  to  re- 
porters, giving  them  inside  information  in  re- 
gard to  the  unpreparedness  of  the  country, 
others  are  prominent  at  public  banquets  at 
which  they  never  fail  to  sound  a note  of 
alarm.  In  every  hour  of  national  excitement 
the  voices  of  certain  Commodores  and  Col- 
onels are  heard  throughout  the  land.  Those 
who  are  not  expert  in  speech,  make  themselves 
felt  through  their  pen.  They  write  for  the 


256  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

magazines  and  Sunday  papers,  and  the  burden 
of  their  story  is  always  the  need  of  more  guns. 
Some  of  the  ablest  of  them  write  volumes 
which  obtain  a wide  circulation,  and  the  ideas 
which  they  sow  are  ideas  which  will  some  day 
bring  forth  harvests  of  death.  They  glorify 
the  gospel  of  force.  They  exalt  military 
ideals.  They  stir  ambitions  in  men’s  hearts 
which  menace  the  welfare  of  the  world.  Only 
recently  there  died  an  officer  of  the  United 
States  navy  who  for  years  had  been  an  inde- 
fatigable teacher  of  the  gospel  of  force,  gath- 
ering at  his  feet  not  only  thousands  of  young 
men  of  our  own  country  but  tens  of  thousands 
in  countries  beyond  the  sea.  That  man  was 
one  of  the  forces  which  helped  to  bring  on  the 
present  war.  He  wrote  the  book  which  per- 
haps more  than  any  other  book  fired  the  Kaiser 
to  build  up  a colossal  German  navy.  It  is  said 
by  a friend  of  his  that  the  present  war  daunted 
him,  and  that  in  his  last  hours  the  founda- 
tions of  his  life-long  teaching  were  shaken. 
It  is  a practical  question  which  we  might  as 
well  face  now  as  later,  is  it  wise  for  the  United 


What,  then,  Shall  We  Do? 


25  7 


States  government  to  allow  the  officers  of  our 
army  and  navy  to  hold  interviews  with  re- 
porters, to  talk  about  our  military  and  naval 
policies  at  banquets,  and  to  write  books  deal- 
ing with  questions  of  international  politics, 
and  exploiting  the  gospel  of  military  prepar- 
edness and  efficiency?  We  have  never  had  a 
subsidized  church,  or  press,  or  theater,  and  it 
is  time  to  ask  ourselves  if  we  are  to  have  a 
body  of  subsidized  writers  and  speakers  who 
shall  make  it  their  chief  business  to  keep  the 
nation  in  a state  of  chronic  alarm  over  the 
deficiencies  of  our  military  and  naval  equip- 
ment, and  to  poison  with  false  ideals  the  minds 
of  the  youth  of  the  land.  It  is  one  of  the 
serious  perils  of  armed  peace,  that  it  gives  a 
large  company  of  able  and  virile  men  abun- 
dant leisure  for  the  propagation  of  the  views 
which  are  dear  to  their  hearts.  Germany  has 
for  forty  years  been  faithfully  instructed  by 
a corps  of  able  army  and  naval  officers  in  the 
philosophy  of  militarism,  and  there  are  offi- 
cers in  our  army  and  navy  who  are  completely 
captivated  by  the  German  ideal. 


258  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

Moreover,,  these  officers  are  permitted,  in 
large  numbers,  to  make  their  home  in  Wash- 
ington City.  Living  there,  it  is  wellnigh  im- 
possible  for  them  to  keep  their  hands  off  of 
Congress.  They  get  acquainted  with  the  con- 
gressmen and  senators,  and  by  various  arts 
of  persuasion  win  these  men  to  favor  their 
plans.  Justice  Brewer  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  spent  the  leisure  hours  of  the 
closing  years  of  his  illustrious  life  in  warning 
his  countrymen  against  the  growing  power  of 
the  army  and  navy  in  the  National  Capital. 
In  one  of  his  addresses  he  called  attention  to 
the  fact  that  at  that  time  there  were  727  offi- 
cers of  army  and  navy,  active  and  retired,  re- 
siding in  Washington  City,  besides  the  families 
of  many  officers  deceased.  Now  all  these  offi- 
cers have  their  relatives  and  friends,  some  of 
them  men  of  high  position  and  great  influence, 
and  when  the  officers  combine  their  forces 
with  those  of  their  friends  and  families  they 
exert  an  influence  on  national  legislation  which 
carries  with  it  incalculable  dangers.  There  is 
already  at  Washington  a military-naval  oli- 


What,  then,  Shall  We  Do? 


259 


garchy  which  will,  unless  checked,  prove  to 
be  the  most  dangerous  oligarchy  which  our 
government  has  ever  been  obliged  to  cope  with. 
I once  asked  a congressman  why  Congress 
persisted  in  squandering  the  people’s  money 
on  battleships  and  cruisers,  and  his  reply  was : 
“ You  have  no  idea  of  the  tremendous  power 
exerted  on  Congress  by  army  and  naval  offi- 
cers and  their  friends.” 

In  this  work  of  influencing  Congress  the 
Navy  League  plays  an  ever  increasing  part. 
]3y  its  agents,  official  and  volunteer,  in  various 
parts  of  the  country,  it  is  able  to  stir  up  peri- 
odic excitement  over  national  unpreparedness, 
and  when  the  time  arrives  for  voting  on  the 
national  budget,  a heavy  shower  of  letters 
usually  falls  on  the  congressional  desks.  The 
threatening  international  weather  which  oc- 
curs every  year  at  the  time  when  the  army  and 
naval  estimates  for  the  coming  year  are  de- 
termined, is  surmised  by  many  to  have  some 
occult  relation  to  the  Navy  League.  It  was 
the  Navy  Leagues  of  Europe  which  helped 
create  the  situation  of  which  the  war  of  ten 


260  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

nations  came.  Army  and  Navy  Leagues  can- 
not fail  to  be  a pest  and  menace  in  every  coun- 
try in  which  they  gain  a footing.  Men  who 
love  their  country  and  mankind  should  reso- 
lutely hold  aloof  from  such  organizations. 
No  matter  what  illustrious  names  may  be 
flaunted  on  their  banners,  they  are  mischief 
makers,  and  are  especially  dangerous  in  a 
Republic. 

It  is  because  of  their  intrusion  in  politics, 
and  their  disposition  to  attempt  to  mould  the 
policy  of  the  nation  that  an  increase  in  the 
number  of  military  and  naval  officers  should 
be  looked  upon  with  concern.  To  add,  for 
instance,  a thousand  new  officers  to  the  United 
States  army,  seems  on  the  face  of  it  a very 
small  matter.  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  every  new  officer  is  a possible  propa- 
gandist and  politician,  that  he  has  brothers 
or  uncles  or  friends  whose  active  support  for 
new  military  schemes  he  can  secure,  and  that 
soon  or  late,  we  may  find  him  comfortably  set- 
tled in  Washington  City,  quietly  enjoying  the 
comfort  of  armed  peace,  and  drawing  a salary 


What,  then.  Shall  We  Do? 


261 


for  writing  articles  and  books  on  the  supreme 
importance  of  a nation  spending  most  of  its 
income  on  guns. 

This  is  the  direction  in  which  it  is  not  wise 
for  a Republic  to  go.  History  shows  that 
even  monarchies  find  it  difficult  to  cope  with 
their  own  military  forces  after  such  forces 
reach  a certain  growth.  The  army  becomes  a 
disturbing  factor  in  the  national  life,  the  hot- 
bed of  feverish  ambitions  and  insurrectionary 
movements.  More  than  one  king  has  been 
ousted  from  his  throne  by  the  very  army  which 
was  created  to  defend  him.  But  republics 
have  less  resisting  power  to  military  encroach- 
ments than  monarchies  have.  In  republics 
there  is  a constant  change  of  officials.  The 
term  of  office  is  at  longest  but  a few  years. 
One  administration  follows  another,  and  men 
who  were  in  the  seats  of  power  but  yesterday 
are  to-day  so  poor  that  there  is  no  one  to  do 
them  reverence.  If,  now,  you  establish  in  the 
National  Capital  a caste  of  army  and  naval 
officials  whose  term  of  service  is  of  necessity 
continuous  and  extended,  you  have  a body  of 


262  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

men  whose  power  for  working  their  will,  runs 
far  beyond  that  of  any  other  class.  Just  a 
few  shrewd  and  far  sighted  and  determined 
men,  secure  in  office  for  a generation,  can  so 
manipulate  the  various  political  factions  and 
parties  as  to  work  out  in  time  the  fulfillment 
of  their  schemes.  By  pitting  party  against 
party,  and  taking  advantage  of  every  oppor- 
tunity which  the  shifting  tides  of  party  pros- 
perity offer,  they  finally  get  the  better  of  their 
antagonists,  and  carry  their  cause  to  triumph. 
Republics  and  military  oligarchies  have  never 
been  able  to  live  long  together.  Soon  or  late 
the  strong  man  on  horseback  appears  and  the 
civil  power  goes  down.  It  seems  absurd  to 
us  to-day  to  imagine  that  our  army  and  navy 
should  ever  overturn  our  republic.  It  would 
indeed  be  absurd  to  say  that  they  could  do  it 
now.  But  who  knows  what  may  be  possible 
in  the  course  of  years  if  a policy  of  continuous 
military  expansion  is  adopted,  and  military  and 
naval  leaders  are  allowed  an  ever  increasing 
place  in  the  domain  of  national  legislation. 
The  militarists  got  such  a grip  on  Germany 


What,  then,  Shall  We  Do? 


263 


and  have  carried  their  measures  in  such  a high 
handed  manner  there,  that  one-third  of  all 
the  German  people  have  been  driven  into  So- 
cialism. Great  Britain  has  for  generations 
kept  down  the  size  of  her  army,  but  last  year 
she  discovered  to  her  amazement  when  Par- 
liament was  considering  a certain  policy  to  be 
pursued  in  Ireland,  that  high  officers  in  the 
British  army  were  not  afraid  to  say  that  they 
would  not  carry  out  the  Government’s  will. 
In  other  words,  the  British  army,  in  the  per- 
son of  various  notable  officials,  lifted  itself 
above  the  civil  power,  plainly  saying  that  Great 
Britain  ought  to  be  ruled  by  the  army,  and  not 
by  representatives  chosen  by  the  people  in 
Parliament  assembled.  If  these  things  can 
happen  beyond  the  sea,  why  should  they  not 
happen  here,  not  in  the  green  tree  but  in  the 
dry?  National  calamities  do  not  come  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,  not  even  in  this  genera- 
tion or  the  next.  They  come  as  the  result  of 
a gradual  yielding  to  false  ideals  carried  on 
through  a long  succession  of  years.  Our  old- 
fashioned  American  fear  of  standing  armies 


264  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

is  a fear  that  should  never  be  permitted  to 
die  out.  It  was  created  in  the  hearts  of  our 
ancestors  by  the  bitter  tribulations  through 
which  they  had  passed,  and  a careful  reading 
of  history  is  sufficient  to  prove  that  for  re- 
publics militarism  is  a swift  and  inevitable 
road  to  death. 

Next  to  the  military  and  naval  experts  who 
have  accepted  the  ideals  of  Bernhardi,  in  their 
power  to  work  mischief  stand  the  men  who 
make  fortunes  by  trading  in  the  munitions  of 
war.  Commercialism  was  one  of  the  forces 
which  hurled  Europe  to  destruction.  The  gun 
makers  and  the  ship  builders  and  the  explosive 
manufacturers  have  helped  to  deluge  Europe 
in  blood.  No  men  in  our  generation  have  been 
more  alert,  industrious,  and  masterful  than 
they.  By  employing  brilliant  designers  and 
inventors,  they  have  been  able  to  get  out  each 
year  a superior  class  of  goods,  which  it  has 
been  deemed  necessary  for  the  nations  to  pur- 
chase, lest  one  of  them  fall  behind  the  other. 
Big  guns  have  been  followed  by  guns  still  big- 
ger, and  these  by  guns  bigger  still.  One  ship 


What,  then,  Shall  We  Do? 


265 


has  led  to  the  creation  of  another  type  of 
ship,  and  this  has  necessitated  still  another, 
until  every  nation  possesses  a long  list  of  va- 
rious kinds  of  fighting  vessels,  and  the  list 
is  not  yet  completed.  When  the  armor  of  the 
dreadnought  was  made  so  thick  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  pierce  it,  it  became  necessary  to 
invent  a torpedo;  but  having  the  torpedo,  it 
was  necessary  to  have  a boat  which  could  fire 
it,  and  thus  there  came  into  existence  the  tor- 
pedo boat.  This  being  exceedingly  dangerous, 
it  was  necessary  to  invent  a boat  to  destroy 
it,  and  thus  there  was  added  to  the  fleet  the 
torpedo  boat  destroyer.  This  being  an  ex- 
ceedingly dangerous  vessel,  it  was  necessary 
to  come  at  it,  if  possible,  from  below  the  wa- 
ter, and  so  the  submarine  was  invented,  with 
a lot  of  complicated  apparatus  the  like  of 
which  had  never  been  known  before.  And 
thus  the  game  of  invention  has  gone  merrily 
on,  the  scientists  and  architects  reveling  in 
their  ingenuity,  the  ship  builders  enlarging 
their  plants,  the  governments  meekly  paying 
the  bills.  And  what  bills ! The  nations 


266  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

loaded  themselves  in  times  of  peace  with  debts 
that  it  will  take  generations  to  pay.  This  wild 
extravagance  was  counted  necessary,  how- 
ever, because  if  you  are  in  a military  or  naval 
race,  nothing  short  of  the  newest  and  most 
expensive  weapon  is  adequate.  And  so  in 
all  the  great  Christian  countries  powerful 
firms  of  ship  builders  and  gun  makers  have 
been  making  enormous  fortunes.  Their  cu- 
pidity has  grown  by  what  it  has  fed  on,  and 
every  year  their  zeal  has  become  hotter  and 
their  policies  more  aggressive  and  unscrupu- 
lous. The  full  story  of  the  workings  of  these 
corporations  has  not  yet  been  written. 
Enough  has  been  found  out  to  make  it  clear 
that  militarism  on  its  commercial  side  is  one 
of  the  rottenest  things  under  heaven.  These 
firms  have  in  certain  cases  been  found  out  to 
be  engaged  in  the  diabolical  work  of  foment- 
ing international  suspicions,  and  of  launching 
war  panics.  When  nations  grow  lukewarm  in 
buying  guns,  they  must  be  frightened  into  it. 
Vested  interests  must  pay  rich  dividends. 
Costly  machinery  must  be  kept  at  work.  It 


What , then,  Shall  We  Do? 


267 


will  never  do  to  have  men  idle  in  the  great 
shipyards  or  armor-plate  mills  or  gun  fac- 
tories, and  so,  year  after  year,  the  world  has 
been  over-run  by  a pack  of  agents  and  pro- 
moters whose  supreme  business  has  been  to 
create  a larger  market  for  explosives  and 
armor  plate  and  guns.  Where  the  carcass  is, 
there  do  the  vultures  gather.  Where  the  ap- 
propriations are  immensest  there  you  find  a 
throng  eager  to  get  a share.  The  private  man- 
ufacture of  the  munitions  of  war  should  not 
be  tolerated.  Private  gain  by  the  manufacture 
of  the  implements  of  destruction,  that  is  a 
temptation  which  must  be  swept  out  of  reach. 
Whatever  guns  and  ships  are  needed  must  be 
made  by  the  government.  No  private  corpo- 
ration should  be  permitted  to  coin  gold  by 
catering  to  the  military  and  naval  establish- 
ments. Syndicates  must  not  be  allowed  to 
work  in  collusion  with  one  another  — as  they 
have  long  done  in  this  country  — sending  in 
identical  bids,  taking  the  government  by  the 
throat  and  saying : “ This  is  the  price  which 

we  demand,  and  there  is  nothing  for  you  to 


268  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

do  but  to  pay  it.”  When  we  shall  have  swept 
the  armor  plate  and  ship  building  and  gun 
lobbyists  out  of  the  national  halls  of  legisla- 
tion, we  shall  have  taken  an  important  step  in 
the  suppression  of  war  panics,  and  in  cutting 
down  the  dimensions  of  military  and  naval 
budgets.  The  traffic  of  the  war  traders  is 
the  greatest  swindle  perpetrated  on  the  world 
since  Tetzel  sold  indulgences. 

What  makes  the  military  experts  and  the 
traders  doubly  dangerous  is  because  they  have 
as  their  coadjutors  able  representatives  of  the 
unscrupulous  section  of  the  daily  press.  When 
the  proprietor  of  a newspaper  is  a jingoist 
and  a conscienceless  fomenter  of  strife,  it  is 
hard  to  set  limits  to  the  mischief  he  is  able  to 
accomplish.  There  are  men  so  low  down  in 
the  scale  of  moral  development  that  they  de- 
liberately fan  the  flames  of  international  sus- 
picion and  hatred.  They  hire  men  to  write 
insulting  editorials  about  foreign  nations. 
They  admit  into  their  columns  letters  from 
persons  as  depraved  as  themselves.  They  take 
delight  in  jabbing  other  nations.  They  gloat 


What,  then,  Shall  We  Do? 


269 


over  the  foibles  and  follies  of  other  peoples. 
In  times  of  international  tension,  these  men 
invariably  say  the  exasperating  word.  They 
poison  the  wells  of  international  good  will. 
They  impugn  the  motives  of  foreign  states- 
men. They  put  the  worst  possible  construc- 
tion on  every  act  of  a foreign  power.  They 
reprint  articles  from  other  papers  inspired  by 
the  same  spirit  of  Gehenna.  To  fill  up  the 
measure  of  their  guilt,  they  publish  fake  inter- 
views, and  narrate  things  that  never  happened. 
They  sometimes  make  corrections  two  days 
later,  but  it  is  then  too  late.  The  poison  has 
been  injected,  and  is  already  doing  its  fatal 
work.  No  one  can  understand  the  great  Eu- 
ropean War  without  taking  into  account  the 
journalists  of  Europe.  In  every  European 
capital  there  have  been  for  a generation  a 
group  of  mischief  making  writers,  and  not  un- 
til you  have  examined  the  files  of  the  leading 
newspapers  in  Berlin  and  Paris,  Petrograd 
and  Vienna  and  London  for  the  last  dozen 
years  can  you  fully  understand  why  the  great- 
est calamity  of  all  history  has  fallen.  Men  by 


270  Christianity  and,  International  Peace 

their  pens  can  set  a continent  on  fire.  Many 
of  the  wisest  and  noblest  men  of  our  modern 
world  are  editors.  Some  of  the  worst  men 
are  editors  also.  When  some  future  Dante 
paints  his  picture  of  Inferno,  he  will  thrust 
into  the  lowest  round  a company  of  reptilian 
creatures,  who  were  given  the  opportunity  of 
lifting  the  world  into  new  faith  and  hope  and 
love  by  the  printing  press  which  God  entrusted 
to  their  keeping,  but  who  used  it  only  to  set 
nations  against  one  another,  and  to  drench  a 
continent  with  blood.  Some  of  the  vilest  of 
all  the  newspaper  proprietors  of  the  world  are 
found  in  our  own  country,  and  we  must  do 
all  we  can  to  break  their  power.  The  men 
who  write  against  foreign  nations  are  always 
the  men  who  favor  a bigger  army  and  an 
always  growing  navy.  You  can  count  upon 
them  always  giving  wrong  advice  in  an  hour  of 
crisis,  of  urging  the  government  into  courses 
it  should  avoid. 

The  pestiferous  newspaper  proprietor  is  one 
of  the  most  difficult  of  all  mischief  makers 
to  deal  with.  We  cannot  take  him  out  and 


What,  then,  Shall  We  Do?  271 

shoot  him  because  he  shrieks  for  war.  Even 
when  war  comes,  there  is  no  law  by  which 
we  can  place  him  in  the  first  line  of  battle, 
although  that  is  where  he  ought  to  be.  We 
cannot  have  a national  censor.  We  are  living 
in  a country  of  free  thought  and  free  speech. 
Free  speech  carries  with  it  a free  press.  As 
a people  we  could  never  submit  to  constant 
governmental  interference  with  our  papers. 
Editors  like  other  men  must  be  free.  To  pub- 
lish foolishness,  if  they  are  so  disposed,  is  a 
privilege  which  we  cannot  by  statutory  enact- 
ment take  away  from  them.  What  then  can 
be  done?  There  is  nothing  to  do  but  to  ren- 
der the  people  immune  to  their  poison.  If 
you  can  make  the  masses  of  the  people  sensible, 
then  fools  in  newspaper  offices  can  do  no 
damage.  If  we  can  create  a feeling  of  good 
will  in  the  hearts  of  our  people,  then  the 
flaming  tirades  of  the  newspaper  jingoist  will 
not  set  the  land  on  fire.  You  must  have  com- 
bustibles as  well  as  a match  to  create  a con- 
flagration. The  newspaper  man  has  a match. 
We  cannot  take  it  from  him,  but  his  match 


272  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

will  never  burn  us  up,  if  in  the  heart  of  the 
nation  there  is  nothing  which  will  catch  fire 
from  the  brimstone  which  he  scatters.  News- 
paper men  are  peculiarly  sensitive  to  popular 
opinion.  They  scrutinize  with  searching  eye 
the  figures  on  the  ledger  in  the  counting  room. 
We  have  in  America  probably  as  good  a press 
as  we  deserve.  When  our  national  character 
improves,  our  papers  will  be  better.  There  is 
no  way  of  keeping  injurious  microbes  out  of 
your  body.  The  only  salvation  lies  in  taking 
in  so  many  good  microbes  that  they  will  neu- 
tralize the  poisonous  effect  of  the  bad.  We 
cannot  eliminate  all  foolish  and  hot  headed 
editors  from  the  country,  but  we  can  increase 
every  year  the  number  of  sane  editors  until  at 
last  the  dunces  can  do  no  harm.  When  you  see 
in  your  newspaper  a malicious  article  written 
with  the  evident  intent  of  stirring  up  feeling 
hostile  to  a foreign  nation,  why  not  write  a 
note  of  protest,  not  for  publication,  but  to  let 
the  editor  know  that  you  do  not  like  what  he 
is  doing?  He  may  care  nothing  for  you,  but 
if  a hundred  persons  wrote  to  him,  all  uttering 


What , then,  Shall  We  Do? 


271 


a similar  protest,  he  would  begin  to  think; 
and  if  five  hundred  wrote  he  would  probably 
say : “ This  evidently  is  not  what  the  people 

want.”  Definite  Christian  opinion  continu- 
ously expressed,  not  to  men  who  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  papers,  but  to  the  editors  them- 
selves, is  the  agency  which,  under  God,  is 
going  in  time  to  cleanse  and  redeem  even  the 
worst  specimens  of  our  American  daily 
press. 

And  this  is  the  way  in  which  we  must  deal 
with  the  mischief  makers  who  succeed  in  get- 
ting into  Congress.  We  have  always  since 
the  foundation  of  our  government  had  at  least 
one  fool  in  Congress,  and  most  of  the  time  we 
have  had  two.  Occasionally  we  have  had 
even  more.  Now  this  is  a misfortune  that 
cannot  easily  be  remedied.  If  you  have 
democracy  at  all,  you  must  take  with  it  the 
risks  and  the  limitations  of  democracy. 
When  you  let  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men 
vote,  you  are  certain  to  elect  all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions of  men  to  serve  you  in  the  halls  of 
legislation.  The  demagogue  will  be  able  to 


274  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

slip  now  and  then  into  Congress,  and  so  will 
the  jingoist,  and  so  will  the  monomaniac  who 
plays  all  his  music  on  one  string.  But  this 
need  not  disturb  us.  Let  us  work  still  more 
assiduously  to  create  a sane  and  wholesome 
public  opinion,  for  Congress  is  sensitive  to 
what  people  are  thinking  and  saying,  and  the 
mass  of  congressmen  are  certain  to  be 
swayed  and  directed  by  the  sentiment  that  is 
hottest  and  strongest  in  the  public  mind.  The 
jingoist  military  expert,  and  war  trader,  and 
newspaper  proprietor,  and  congressman  are  all 
harmless  and  impotent,  if  only  the  masses  of 
our  people  are  enemies  of  militarism  and 
steadfast  devotees  of  justice  and  peace. 

But  we  must  go  further  than  this.  It  is 
not  enough  to  criticise  foolish  talking  and 
writing.  We  must  create  ways  of  holding 
the  evil  propensities  of  humanity  in  check. 
We  must  organize  the  moral  forces  of  the 
world.  There  is  no  doubt  more  peace  senti- 
ment than  war  sentiment  in  the  world,  but 
militarism  organizes  the  war  sentiment,  and 
the  peace  sentiment  is  allowed  to  run  to  waste. 


What , then,  Shall  We  Do? 


275 


Had  the  peace  sentiment  of  Europe  been 
mobilized  with  half  the  efficiency  with  which 
the  forces  of  destruction  were  mobilized,  there 
never  would  have  been  this  war.  Pacifists 
are  simply  puppets  in  the  hands  of  the  mili- 
tarists because  the  latter  know  the  value  of 
organization  and  concentrate  their  power  on 
the  positions  which  must  be  attacked  and 
taken.  They  create  institutions  to  embody 
their  ideals,  and  to  make  them  effective  in  the 
life  of  nations.  Not  until  the  peace  lovers 
of  the  world  focus  their  eyes  on  a few  definite 
things  which  must  be  accomplished,  can  we 
hope  to  bring  the  world  into  a state  of  per- 
manent international  peace. 

First  of  all,  we  Americans  ought  to  work 
for  the  establishment  of  a new  department  of 
our  government,  a department  whose  special 
and  exclusive  business  shall  be  cultivating  and 
maintaining  international  good  will.  If  we 
have  a Secretary  of  War,  why  not  have  a 
Secretary  of  Peace?  If  we  appropriate  a 
hundred  million  dollars  for  our  army,  and  a 
hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars  for  our 


276  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

navy,  can  we  not  afford  to  appropriate,  say,  ten 
million  dollars  annually  for  a department  of 
peace?  Are  we  to  go  on  forever  assuming 
that  battleships  and  fortifications  and  bayonets 
are  our  only  lines  of  defense?  We  all  know 
that  there  are  defenses  spiritual  as  well  as 
physical.  I can  defend  myself  from  a man  by 
a clt?b,  but  I can  also  defend  myself  from  him 
by  a friendship.  The  second  is  easier,  more 
sensible,  and  safer.  A man  who  depends  on 
a club  is  never  altogether  sure  of  his  defense. 
The  club  may  break,  or  he  may  not  swing  it 
quickly  enough,  or  it  may  not  land  on  the 
right  spot,  but  a friendship  if  genuine  can  al- 
ways be  relied  on.  Why  should  not  nations 
set  themselves  seriously  to  the  task  of  making 
friends  of  all  their  neighbors?  Why  should 
not  money  and  time  be  expended  in  the  work 
of  drawing  them  together?  At  present  we 
have  a set  of  salaried  officials  who  are  con- 
stantly on  the  lookout  for  evidences  of  evil 
intentions  in  our  neighbors.  They  brood  over 
problematic  perils.  They  plan  for  wars 
which  are  yet  to  come.  Why  not  have  an- 


What , then,  Shall  We  Do? 


2 77 


other  set  of  national  officials  who  shall  give 
all  their  time  to  the  cultivation  of  feelings  of 
confidence  and  good  will,  who  shall  look  for 
every  slightest  manifestation  of  friendliness, 
and  who  shall  publish  from  time  to  time  in 
official  documents  the  appreciative  things 
which  are  said  about  us  in  foreign  lands? 
When  we  returned  a part  of  the  Boxer  in- 
demnity, we  built  a powerful  fortification 
against  China.  That  single  act  of  generosity 
was  worth  more  to  us  in  the  way  of  defense 
than  the  launching  of  a dozen  dreadnoughts. 
When  newspapers  begin  to  publish  alarming 
news  items  on  the  hostility  of  Japan,  the  gov- 
ernment should  be  prepared  to  send  a hun- 
dred of  our  most  distinguished  and  fair 
minded  citizens  to  confer  with  representatives 
of  the  Japanese  people,  and  bring  back  a re- 
port of  facts  as  they  are.  The  Americans 
who  fear  Japan  are  prolific  in  plans  to  guard 
ourselves  against  her,  but  their  plans  are  fear- 
fully expensive,  and  it  is  not  certain  how 
successfully  they  would  work.  But  all  that  is 
needed  to  keep  Japan  and  the  United  States 


278  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

friends  forever  is  courtesy  and  brotherliness 
and  the  full  toned  trust  of  all  our  people. 
Japan  is  a little  nation,  struggling  amid  many 
difficulties  to  a larger  measure  of  the  light 
which  has  fallen  on  our  western  world.  She 
has  no  desire  for  any  of  our  territory.  She 
has  no  wish  or  thought  of  fighting  us.  All 
she  craves  is  simply  friendly  cooperation  with 
us  in  working  out  the  great  world  problems. 
A Secretary  of  Peace  could  counteract  the  dis- 
turbing influences  of  mischief  makers  on  both 
sides  of  the  Pacific. 

There  are  those  who  are  always  looking 
with  dark  misgivings  upon  the  attitude  of 
European  nations.  Some  are  afraid  of  Rus- 
sia, others  of  Germany,  and  others  of  Great 
Britain.  Our  only  defense,  they  say,  is  a pow- 
erful navy,  powerful  enough  to  meet  any  pos- 
sible eventuality.  To  protect  ourselves  they  are 
willing  to  curtail  every  other  item  of  national 
expenditure,  to  postpone  the  carrying  out  of 
every  scheme  of  social  betterment,  sacrificing 
all  internal  improvements  to  the  building  up 
of  a fleet  which  shall  dominate  the  seas.  But 


What,  then,  Shall  We  Do? 


279 


why  not  try  a better  way?  Bulwarks  made 
of  steel  are  extravagantly  expensive,  and 
moreover  they  may  fail  us  in  the  crucial  hour. 
Instead  of  building  new  battleships  just  now, 
why  not  save  our  money  and  at  the  end  of  the 
war  go  among  the  European  nations  doing 
good?  When  the  war  is  over,  why  not,  in- 
stead of  launching  new  dreadnoughts,  try  to 
bind  up  some  of  Europe’s  wounds?  Instead 
of  spending  thirty  million  dollars  on  two  new 
dreadnoughts,  why  not  give  it  as  a present  to 
the  European  nations  most  impoverished  by 
the  war,  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  and  en- 
dowing in  each  one  of  them  an  orphan  asylum 
for  the  education  of  the  boys  and  girls  whose 
fathers  died  on  the  battlefield?  Dread- 
noughts are  provocative  of  ugly  feelings.  We 
may  call  them  defensive  dreadnoughts,  but 
they  are  offensive  to  all  the  nations  which  look 
into  the  bore  of  their  guns.  Institutions  built 
by  our  money  for  the  help  of  the  helpless  in 
foreign  lands  would  plead  like  angels  for  us, 
and  hold  back  statesmen,  even  disposed  to  in- 
solence and  aggression,  from  perpetrating 


280  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

upon  us  an  act  of  discourtesy  or  injustice. 
There  is  nothing  so  mighty  in  this  world  as 
simple  kindness.  Thrice  is  he  armed  who  has 
a heart  so  true  and  gentle  that  it  calls  out 
from  others  feelings  of  respect  and  love.  Let 
the  United  States  open  a new  chapter  in  the 
world’s  history  by  seating  in  its  cabinet  a 
minister,  entrusted  with  the  work  of  further- 
ing International  Peace. 

But  we  cannot  work  alone.  The  world’s 
problems  demand  many  co-laborers.  We  must 
join  with  others  in  the  creation  of  new  insti- 
tutions for  the  safeguarding  of  the  interests 
of  the  nations.  The  two  Conferences  at  The 
Hague  were  prophetic.  They  were  valuable 
not  so  much  for  what  they  accomplished  as 
for  pointing  out  the  direction  in  which  the 
world  must  move.  Provision  must  now  be 
made  for  their  automatic  periodic  meeting. 
Such  a conference  must  meet  not  because 
some  ruler  sees  fit  to  call  it,  but  because  the 
year  has  arrived  when,  according  to  the  con- 
stitution, it  is  time  for  the  world’s  counsellors 
again  to  assemble.  There  must  be  an  In- 


What,  then,  Shall  We  Do? 


281 


ternational  Court.  It  must  be  permanent. 
Its  Judges  must  be  ready  at  all  times  to  ad- 
judicate the  matters  presented  to  them.  This 
court  must  be  backed  up  by  an  international 
police  force.  To  this  force,  each  nation  must 
contribute  its  quota  of  fighting  ships.  Re- 
calcitrant and  lawless  nations  must  be  given 
to  know  that  they  cannot  do  as  they  please. 
Treaties  are  not  scraps  of  paper,  but  sacred 
obligations  to  be  solemnly  kept.  If  a nation 
is  not  willing  to  keep  them,  she  must  be 
coerced  into  obedience  by  her  right-minded 
neighbors.  In  short,  the  world  must  be  or- 
ganized. The  nations  must  be  federated. 
The  whole  planet  must  be  brought  under 
law.  No  one  or  two  nations  must  ever 
again  be  permitted  to  hurl  civilization  into  a 
ditch. 

The  only  objection  to  this  scheme  is  its 
difficulty.  It  will  take  a long  time  to  bring 
it  about.  Everybody  can  see  that  it  is  difficult, 
and  those  who  have  studied  it  longest  are 
most  aware  how  baffling  the  difficulties  are. 
But  because  a thing  is  difficult  is  no  reason 


282  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

for  giving  it  up.  If  the  world  cannot  well 
get  on  without  a world  government,  then  a 
world  government  we  must  have.  It  must 
be  devised  and  carved  out  by  men.  That  is 
what  men  are  for.  They  are  given  the 
privilege  of  living  in  order  that  they  may  pro- 
vide the  things  which  life  needs.  It  was  a 
difficult  thing  to  bring  our  thirteen  colonies 
together  Many  men  said  offhand  that  it 
could  not  be  done.  Some  who  at  first 
thought  it  possible,  gave  up  hope  after  the 
first  few  struggles.  But  there  were  enough 
men  of  faith  and  courage  to  carry  the  enter- 
prise through.  To  their  lasting  renown  they 
persevered.  To  the  eternal  welfare  of  man- 
kind they  succeeded.  The  fact  that  it  was  so 
tremendously  difficult  increases  our  gratitude 
to  the  heroes  who  achieved  it.  That  is  the 
best  thing  which  the  new  world  has  ever  yet 
done.  Nothing  else  is  comparable  with  it. 
To  devise  a form  of  government  under  which 
it  is  possible  for  forty-eight  commonwealths 
to  live  together  in  harmony  is  one  of  the  half 
dozen  greatest  triumphs  of  human  genius. 


What , then,  Shall  We  Do? 


283 


Nothing  superior  to  it  has  ever  been  attempted 
or  accomplished.  Only  one  thing  more  diffi- 
cult can  be  conceived  of,  and  that  is  the  or- 
ganization of  countries  under  different  flags 
into  a world  federal  union.  The  United 
States  of  the  World,  this  is  the  solution  of 
the  war  problem.  The  difficulties  are  vast, 
but  they  are  not  unconquerable.  The  ob- 
stacles are  numberless,  but  they  are  not  in- 
superable. The  disappointments  and  delays 
will  be  vexatious,  but  they  need  not  be  over- 
whelming. God  will  give  us  time,  and  we 
shall  ultimately  accomplish  what  God  intends 
shall  be  done.  Why  should  any  American 
wince  in  the  presence  of  such  a problem?  If 
Washington  and  Franklin  and  Jefferson  and 
Hamilton  and  Adams  had  courage  sufficient  to 
launch  a new  experiment  upon  the  world,  and 
trust  to  the  storms  of  the  future,  a govern- 
ment built  on  the  principle  that  all  men  are 
created  equal,  and  that  life  and  liberty  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness  are  to  be  counted  nat- 
ural and  inalienable  rights,  shame  on  us  if  we 
slink  away  from  this  still  larger  problem  of 


284  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

organizing  the  nations  into  a world  wide  com- 
monwealth! To  be  as  good  as  our  fathers  — 
as  Wendell  Phillips  used  to  say  — we  must  be 
better  than  they.  We  are  not  worthy  of  our 
lineage  if  we  dare  not  attempt  larger  things 
than  have  ever  before  been  attempted.  Faith 
and  courage  then  are  what  our  Republic  just 
now  most  needs.  We  are  face  to  face  with 
a world  crisis.  We  have  an  opportunity 
granted  to  no  other  nation.  We  can  blaze  a 
new  track  through  the  forest.  We  can  turn 
the  stream  of  history  into  a new  channel.  We 
have  come  to  the  parting  of  the  roads.  We 
can  follow  the  wasting  precedents  of  the  past, 
or  we  can  attempt  a beautiful  and  original 
thing.  We  can  say  boldly  to  all  the  nations  of 
the  earth : “ Let  us  begin  to  reduce  our  mili- 

tary and  naval  equipment ; let  us  disband 
some  of  our  regiments,  and  cut  down  our 
naval  appropriations,  and  spend  more  of  our 
money  hereafter  for  the  welfare  of  the  peo- 
ple.” We  can  say : “ We  cannot  do  this  alone, 
but  we  are  willing  to  lead  the  way.  We  are 
willing  to  go  first,  and  we  are  willing  to  go  far- 


What,  then,  Shall  We  Do? 


285 


thest.  We  are  glad  to  set  you  an  example. 
We  are  willing  to  replace  the  arbitrament  of 
force  by  the  arbitrament  of  reason.  We  are 
ready  to  submit  every  international  dispute  to 
arbitration.”  O that  our  government  might  say 
that,  and  that  all  the  people  might  say  Amen. 
The  government  cannot  say  it  unless  the  peo- 
ple want  it.  Ours  is  a government  of  the  peo- 
ple and  by  the  people  and  for  the  people,  and 
the  government  cannot  run  beyond  the  ideals 
of  the  people.  A government  that  leaps 
beyond  the  moral  attainments  of  the  people 
is  a government  which  is  doomed  to  humilia- 
tion. What  the  government  says  is  of  slight 
worth  unless  it  expresses  what  is  immov- 
ably fixed  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the 
people. 

And  so  we  come  at  last  to  the  most  indis- 
pensable work  of  all,  that  is  the  spiritual  re- 
birth of  our  nation.  There  is  no  solution  for 
any  of  our  problems  except  through  re- 
pentance and  prayer.  There  is  no  possibility 
of  our  going  into  the  kingdom  of  peace  unless 
we  are  born  again.  The  world  problem  as 


286  Christianity  and  International  Peace 

well  as  the  city  problem  and  the  individual 
problem  is  a religious  problem.  Its  solution 
is  found  in  the  realm  of  the  spirit.  A leader 
of  distinction  has  recently  said  that  religion 
offers  us  no  hope  of  a way  to  international 
peace,  but  that  we  are  to  find  redemption  in 
the  kingdom  of  science  and  jurisprudence. 
A more  mistaken  judgment  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  form.  The  only  hope  for  ultimate 
peace  lies  through  religion.  Knowledge  is 
not  enough.  Law  is  not  sufficient.  Nothing 
suffices  but  the  spirit  of  God.  It  is  not  by 
economic  readjustments,  nor  by  scientific 
discoveries,  nor  by  financial  interlocking  in- 
terests, nor  by  commercial  prudence,  nor  by 
the  refinements  of  art,  that  the  nations  are 
going  to  learn  war  no  more,  but  by  a fuller 
baptism  of  the  spirit  of  the  man  who  died  on 
the  cross  and  who  said : “ And  I,  if  I be 
lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me.”  Men 
are  going  to  cease  trusting  in  the  power  of 
the  mailed  fist  as  they  come  more  and  more 
under  the  influence  of  the  naked  hand  that 


287 


What,  then,  Shall  We  Do? 

was  pierced.  It  is  not  by  might  nor  by 
power,  that  the  world  is  to  be  conquered,  but 
by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord. 


THE  END 


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